/ 

■J 




CopyrightN?. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



PHILLIPS BIBLE INSTITUTE SERIES 
of Efficiency Text-books for Bible Schools and Churches 



How the Disciples Began 
and Grew 

A Short History of the Christian Church 

By 

M. M. DAVIS, A.M. 

Minister Ross Avenue Christian Church, Dallas, Texas. 
Author of "Change of Heart ;" ' 'Queen Esther; ' ' 
' 'Elijah ;" ' 'First Principles ;" "The Elder- 
ship;" "The Restoration Movement of 
the Nineteenth Century, ' ' and 
"How to he Saved." 




Cincinnati 
The Standard Publishing Company 



Copyright, 1915, by 
The Standard Publishing Company 



tf 






, orT -8 1915 

©C1.A411859 



(A 
I 





7o ^4// Who Believe that the Church 
of the Apostolic Age Is the Model 
for the Church of All Succeeding 
Ages, and Are Laboring to That End, 
This Volume is Dedicated 
by the Author 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

A Foreword 9 

I. 

CAUSES OF THE MOVEMENT. 

Widespread Working of the Leaven 11 

II. 

EARLY HISTORY OF THE CAMPBELLS. 

Brief View of Thomas Campbell — Early Life of 
Alexander Campbell — Why Thomas Campbell Came to 
America — Shipwreck of Alexander Campbell — In Glas- 
gow University — Preview of Alexander Campbell — Land- 
ing of Thomas Campbell in America — First Experiences 
— Independent Work — Declaration and Address — Re- 
union of Father and Son 29 

III. 

DECLARATION AND ADDRESS. 

The Declaration — The Address — The Appendix — The 
Two Phases of the Movement SI 

IV. 

PREPARATORY WORK. 

Alexander Campbell's First Sermon — Trouble with 
Pittsburgh Synod — Change of Leaders — Brush Run 
Church — Points of Progress — Marriage of Alexander 
Campbell — Settling the Baptismal Question — Other 
Points of Progress — Why Alexander Campbell Was Not 

a Party Man 65 

5 



6 CONTENTS 

V. PAGE 

INTO AND OUT OF THE BAPTIST 
CHURCH. 

Into the Baptist Church — Debates with Walker and 
McCalla — Sermon on the Law — The Christian Baptist — 
"Bethany" — Things Specially Opposed by Mr. Campbell 
— Millennial Harbinger — Great Growth — Walter Scott — 
Mr. Campbell Warning His Enemies — Out of the Bap- 
tist Church 83 

VI. 

THE STONE MOVEMENT. 

Early Life of Barton W. Stone — Religious Experi- 
ence — Wonderful Revivals — Withdraws from Presby- 
terianism — First Church After New Testament Model — 
First Meeting of Stone and Campbell — Union of the Two 
Peoples — Differences Between Them — Garrison's Illus- 
tration — Why the Stone Movement Is Considered a 
Tributary and Not the Main Stream — Power of Love.. . 105 

VII. 

THE WORK BROADENING AND DEEP- 
ENING. 

Theory of Union Tested — Aylett Raines — Campbell, 
Stone and Errett on Faith and Opinion — Causes of 
Gospel Success — Mr. Campbell's Visit to the Old World. 125 

VIII. 

THREE GREAT DEBATES 

Controversy Unavoidable — Debates with Owen, Pur- 
cell and Rice 145 

IX. 

EDUCATIONAL. 

Why Educational Interests Were Delayed — Bethany 
College — Distinguished Graduates — Transylvania Univer- 



CONTENTS 7 

PAGE 

s jty_The Bible College— Other Colleges— School of Mis- 
sions — Phillips Bible Institute — Southern Christian Insti- 
tute — Summary 161 

X. 

MISSIONARY. 

Why Missions Were Delayed — Early Discussions on 
the Subject — American Christian Missionary Society — 
Christian Woman's Board of Missions — Foreign Chris- 
tian Missionary Society — National Benevolent Associa- 
tion — Church Extension — Ministerial Relief — England — 
Canada — Australia — Japan — France 177 

XL 

FOUR GREAT LIEUTENANTS. 

Walter Scott — "Raccoon" John Smith — Isaac Errett — 
John W. McGarvey 199 

XII. 

RETROSPECT, PROSPECT, DANGERS AND 
DUTIES. 

Remarkable Growth — The Cause of It — Twelve Points 
Emphasized — The Nineteenth Century — An Impressive 
Picture — Four Dangers — Five Duties — Military Picture 
of Our Place and Duty 227 



A FOREWORD 

This volume is in the main a condensation of the 
author's larger work, "The Restoration Movement 
of the Nineteenth Century/' and its aim is to meet 
the wants of that large class of readers in this busy 
age who have persuaded themselves that they have 
not the time to read anything but a condensed story. 
It claims not to be elaborate or exhaustive, but repre- 
sentative and reliable. It would bring out such fea- 
tures of our history as will give one a good under- 
standing of the most remarkable religious movement 
since New Testament times. But it is hoped that 
all who can do so, will also read the larger book on 
which this one is based. 

Each chapter is followed by a number of review 
questions which will help to rivet the principal 
thoughts in the mind of the reader. Be sure to study 
these questions; and if you find that you can not 
readily answer them, it is evidence that you should 
reread the chapter. 

The author believes that in all our schools and 
homes more time should be given to the study of 
our history. It is not sufficient to acquaint the stu- 
dent with church history as a whole, but he should 
become familiar with our own individual history, 
which is more interesting than a novel, and more 
thrilling than romance. He would be a poor Ameri- 

9 



10 A FOREWORD 

can who knew of this favored land only through 
the world historian. He needs some reliable volume, 
local in its nature. 

Praying the blessings of the Father on this 
modest but earnest attempt to do good, we commit 
it to our readers in the hope that it will not only 
increase light, but that it will make each one of 
them purer and stronger for the conflicts of life. 



I. 

CAUSES OF THE MOVEMENT 



11 



OUTLINE— CHAPTER I. 

Fundamental Causes. 

a. The Renaissance. 

b. The Divided Church. 

c. A Warring Church. 

d. Beclouded Theology. 

e. Arrogant Clergy. 
/. Human Creeds. 
g. Rank Infidelity. 

The Leaven at Work. 

a. In the Old World. 

b. In the New World. 

c. Old Churches. 



1% 



I. 

Causes of the Movement. 

To understand any great movement among men 
we must know the cause or causes which produced 
it. This is not a world of chance. Every effect 
has its cause. To understand the French Revolu- 
tion we must go back of that bloody conflict for 
a starting-point. We must know that the people 
for generations had writhed and groaned under 
the heavy heel of Bourbon rule, and when this 
could be endured no longer they rose in their 
wrath and struck for liberty. The same is true 
of the American Revolution. The throwing of a 
few pounds of tea overboard in Boston harbor was 
not its cause, but its dramatic manifestation. A 
brave people, loyal and long-suffering, had at last 
reached the limit of oppression, and this was their 
way of telling the world about it. Even so, if we 
would understand the Restoration Movement of the 
nineteenth century, or read aright the History of 
the Disciples, we must go back into the past and 
study its 

Some of these were: a. The 

i. Fundamental Renaissance, the movement of 
Cs.uscs 

transition in Europe from the 

medieval to the modern world, especially in the re- 
vival of the classical arts and letters. Its earliest 

13 



14 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

traces are found in Italy in the fourteenth century. A 
hundred years later it was greatly stimulated by bring- 
ing into Italy the ancient literature of Greece. The 
Italian Renaissance reached its zenith about the first 
of the sixteenth century, as seen in the works of such 
men as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and 
Raphael. It soon invaded Germany and England, 
and filled the land with light and inspiration. The 
students of science, philosophy and religion began 
to seek for the sources of things. The Bible, long 
a chained book by order of the Pope, was liberated, 
and its contents were eagerly and earnestly investi- 
gated. The darkness of superstitious reverence 
was blown aw T ay from it, and the light of scientific 
study was substituted. It became a new book, not 
only fanning the flames of religious fervor, but also 
stimulating patriotism, and the highest life in the 
individual, in the home and in the nation. 

Two fundamental principles, invaluable to the 
religious life, were enunciated. The first was the 
right of private judgment. Every man had the 
right to read the Bible for himself and interpret 
it according to his own understanding. The sec- 
ond was that when the Book was thus studied, it 
would produce union among Christians as it did 
in the beginning. 

Perhaps no two notes were sounded oftener 
and stronger by the Campbells and their colaborers 
than these. Christianity, they contended, was a 
child of light. It did not sneak into the world 
during some dark night and by some obscure way, 
but it came in the broad daylight and in the most 



BEGAN AND GREW 15 

public manner. Paul, in his great speech before 
Agrippa, said, "This thing was not done in a 
corner" (Acts 26:26). Their motto, therefore, was, 
"Turn on the light." 

b. The Divided Church. A second cause was 
the divided Church. In the light of the Book these 
men saw this to be unnecessary, unreasonable, 
indefensible, unscriptural and sinful. They heard 
their Lord praying for the oneness of his Church 
(John- 17: 11-23) : "Holy Father, keep through thy 
own name those whom thou hast given me, that 
they may be one, as we are." This language was 
too plain to be misunderstood. Nothing short of 
the oneness between the Father and Son — a unity 
absolutely harmonious and helpful — would answer 
this prayer. They also heard him connect the sal- 
vation of the world with this, saying: "That they 
may be one in us, that the world may believe that 
thou hast sent me." 

If there was not another word in the New 
Testament condemning division, this prayer would 
be sufficient; but they found more. They heard 
their Master speak of other sheep that must be 
brought: "That there shall be one fold and one 
shepherd" (John 10:16). They heard Paul (1 
Cor. 1 : 10) pleading "that ye all speak the same 
thing, and that there be no divisions among you." 
They heard him (1 Cor. 3:3) characterize their 
divisions as "carnal"; and they heard his forcible 
analogy (1 Cor. 12:12-27), comparing the Church 
to the human body: "For as the body is one, and 
hath many members, and all the members of that 



16 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

one body, being many, are one body; so also is 
Christ/' 

They saw on every hand that these divisions 
were weakening the forces of God and dissipating 
their energy. Instead of one great army moving 
grandly on to victory, as in the apostolic age, there 
were hundreds of little detachments jealously 
watching each other, rather than the common foe. 

c. A Warring Church. A third cause was in 
the sad fact that these divided sections were not 
only jealous of each other, but in many cases they 
were actually devouring one another. Instead of 
being allies, they were enemies. Nelson, just before 
one of his greatest victories, called two of his cap- 
tains who hated each other, to the flagship, and 
putting their right hands in his left, he pointed to 
the opposing fleet and said: "There is the enemy; 
you must be friends." It is said that during the 
Mexican War a staff officer, admiring the courage 
shown on a certain section of the field, rode rapid- 
ly to General Taylor and called his attention to it. 
Taylor immediately discovered that it was two 
divisions of his own army mowing each other 
down, and he shouted to the officer: "Those are 
our own men destroying each other. Hurry down 
there and stop it!" No army, however brave and 
patriotic, could live long under such fierce cross- 
firing as existed in the army of the Lord one 
hundred years ago. 

d. Beclouded Theology. Another cause was 
the beclouded theology of the day. The religious 
teachers were often such as the Saviour described 



BEGAN AND GREW 17 

when he said the blind were leading the blind and 
both would fall into the ditch. The Bible was not 
a systematic revelation, but a jumble of jewels 
thrown together without system or order. The 
different dispensations had never been discovered. 
The Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the 
Mount were both from God, and their teachings 
should be indiscriminately applied. The same was 
true of Moses and Jesus. Each was to be heard 
without reference to the time and place of speak- 
ing. A lost soul seeking the Saviour was as likely 
to be referred to the Psalms, the Prophets or the 
Law as to the Book of Acts. Man was a machine 
and conversion a miracle. The Bible was a "dead 
letter," and the Holy "Ghost," in some miraculous, 
indescribable and irresistible manner, was the author 
of every conversion. Material sights and sounds, 
visions and sensations, dreams and experiences, 
were the assurance of pardon, rather than the word 
of God. 

e. An Arrogant Clergy. An arrogant clergy 
was another cause. Most of these men were igno- 
rant, and ignorance and arrogance generally go 
hand in hand. They had taken away the key of 
knowledge, and would increase the chasm between 
themselves and the common masses. They stood 
upon stilts, and would have the world look up to 
them. "God made men," said Mr. Campbell; "the 
priests make laymen." They stood in the way of 
every reformation; they were the chief causes of 
the divided condition of the Church; and they 
lorded it over God's heritage, and assumed the 



18 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

right of legislation for those in the pew. As Eli- 
jah found it impossible to redeem Israel from 
idolatry so long as the priesthood of Baal ruled, 
so these men looked upon the restoration of 
primitive Christianity as an impossibility until the 
power of the modern clergy was broken. There 
were many exceptions to this rule — men as pure 
and noble as ever lived — but they were excep- 
tions. 

/. Human Creeds. The tyranny of human 
creeds was a sixth cause. They are comparatively 
harmless to-day, but not so a century ago. Then 
they were found everywhere, and they were as 
rigid as rods of iron. No man, whatever his char- 
acter, could enter the Church without accepting 
their every detail. Within their sacred enclosure 
all truth was to be found, and therefore the min- 
ister was to be simply an automaton, or hand-organ, 
echoing the thoughts of others rather than his own. 
Independent research, and the avowal of new truth 
thus found, were condemned. Each creed was an 
iron bed, and the preacher was made to fit it. If 
too long, he was shortened, and if too short, he 
was lengthened. The bed was greater than the 
man. 

Such a claim was repulsive for another reason — 
it implied that the truth needed artificial support. 
Half-truths need human help, but the pure truth, 
as spoken by God, can stand alone. The Master 
asked no protection for it, but cast it forth as an 
angel from the skies, capable of caring for itself 
amid all conditions. Even the true scientist asks 



BEGAN AND GREW 19 

not the protection of men for his discoveries. He 
knows that 

"Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again; 
The eternal years of God are hers; 
But Error, wounded, writhes in pain, 
And dies among his worshipers.*' 

Creeds had destroyed the unity of the Church, 
and now they would have to be destroyed in order 
to the restoration of that unity. 

g. Infidelity. Rank infidelity was the last 
cause we mention. The beginning of the nine- 
teenth century was a period of blatant unbelief not 
far from atheism. The skepticism of Europe had 
taken firm root both at home and in America. The 
Revolutionary War and the French Revolution con- 
tributed largely to this result. The lifelessness of 
the Church was also a large contributor. The 
pagan world was in densest darkness, and there was 
no adequate effort to send thither the gospel. In 
our own land the star of empire was moving 
rapidly westward, but the church and schoolhouse 
were not found in these border settlements. Un- 
belief was aggressive and reckless. The Legisla- 
ture of Connecticut in 1741 declared against the 
work of the religious evangelist; Thomas Paine 
was an idol, and his flimsy arguments against the 
Christ were almost universally accepted. In Yale 
University there were two Paine societies, and less 
than a half-dozen Christians. The College of Wil- 
liam and Mary, Bowdoin College and Transylvania 
University were little better. 

Here is a sample of the underlying causes 



20 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

leading to the Restoration Movement, and surely 
they not only justify, but demand, the movement. 

The discovery of the planet 
2. The Leaven at Neptune is a good illustration of 
the religious unrest one hundred 
years ago. Astronomers had noticed that Uranus 
was being disturbed by some power, but they 
knew not what it was, and many of them set to 
work to locate it. Two of them — Adams, of Eng- 
land, and Lever rier, of France, each ignorant of 
the other's purpose, entered their laboratories and 
began investigations. About the same time they 
located the place of the trouble, and, pointing their 
telescopes to the place, Neptune was discovered as 
the disturbing element. 

About the time of the dawning of the nine- 
teenth century all could see that the religious world 
was sadly troubled. The Church had well-nigh 
lost her power, and her progress had been ar- 
rested. Dark clouds overhung the heavens, and 
hope fled from the hearts of many. Good men 
saw there was something terribly wrong, but they 
knew not what it was. Moved by a single impulse, 
a desire to discover and remedy the wrong, they 
began their investigations. In many cases they 
were far removed from each other, ignorant of 
the feelings, purposes and labors of the others. But 
one by one they located the trouble in the divided 
condition of Christendom, with its attendant evils, 
and they began the work of its removal. 

a. In the Old World. In the Old World the 
Haldane brothers, two of God's noblemen, inaugu- 



BEGAN AND GREW 21 

rated a movement of power and promise, but, as 
men count success, it was a failure. But, as God 
counts it, it was a success. They demonstrated 
the weakness and wickedness of division, and 
pointed out the only remedy: a return to apostolic 
Christianity. God wanted them for sowers, not 
reapers. The old soil where they lived and labored 
was too much preoccupied for the seed to take 
ready root. But it was not lost, but was trans- 
ferred by the Campbells to the virgin soil of the 
New World, where it has already grown into 
greatness, and yet seems only in its infancy. 

Thomas Campbell had much the same experi- 
ence with the Presbyterians that the Haldanes had 
with the Church of Scotland. Like them, he 
located the hurt of Zion in her divided condition, 
and with all his power he strove for her union. 
To a man with his clearness of vision and gentle- 
ness of spirit, divisions in the family of God were 
almost unbearable. Especially was this true when 
carried to the ridiculous extremes which he wit- 
nessed. Andrew Hunter, one of his brethren, con- 
tracted to build a church house in Glasgow for 
the Episcopalians. He was warned by the dig- 
nitaries of his church not to do it, but he would 
not heed the warning. Charges were preferred 
against him and he was brought before the synod 
and condemned, that dignified body holding that 
the building of an Episcopal meeting-house was 
the same as the building of the "high places" 
(places of idol-worship) of the Old Testament. 
They also excommunicated a man for going to 



22 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

hear James Haldane and Rowland Hill preach. 

There were four different bodies of Presby- 
terians, all holding to the Westminster Confession. 
Mr. Campbell was greatly grieved at this, and in 
1804, just at the time when Barton W. Stone in 
America was turning away from sectarian divisions 
and organizing churches according to the New 
Testament model, it looked as though they would 
unite. His influence locally was so great that all 
opposition was overcome, and the lower synod 
voted for union. But when it reached the General 
Associate Synod of Scotland, it was condemned, 
and had to be abandoned. But, as with the Hal- 
danes, his labors were not lost. Sixteen years 
later, long after the Campbells had renounced 
denominationalism and were laboring for Christian 
union in the New World, success came. 

b. In the New World. Let us now cross the 
Atlantic and note the working of the leaven here 
where the great struggle is to take place. We find 
it in widely separated regions, and often among 
antagonistic bodies, and led by men utterly ignorant 
of similar movements elsewhere. The spirit mani- 
fested itself among the Methodists at the time of 
the declaration of American independence. These 
people, now under a different system of political 
government, naturally began anew the study of 
church government. Thomas Coke and Francis 
Asbury led in the plea for a prelacy, they being 
regarded as "superintendents" or bishops. But a 
counter movement, led by James O'Kelly, favored 
the Congregational form of government, with the 



BEGAN AND GREW 23 

New Testament as the only book of discipline. But 
the Episcopal party was so strong that O'Kelly and 
his followers felt justified in withdrawing. On 
Christmas Day, 1793, at Manakin Town, North 
Carolina, the secession took place. At first they 
called themselves "Republican Methodists" ; but 
later they adopted the name "Christian," and 
resolved to acknowledge Christ as the only head 
of the Church, and the Bible as the only rule of 
faith and practice. Judged by numbers, the O'Kelly 
movement was not a large success. But their 
principles, being true, still live in the lives of many. 
Soon after this the leaven was seen in the Bap- 
tist Church. Dr. Abner Jones, of Hartland, Connec- 
ticut, tiring of human names and creeds, began to 
urge with great zeal that all such things be aban- 
doned, and that the people return to the simple 
life of New Testament Christianity. During the 
years 1800-1803, he established congregations at 
Lyndon, Vermont, and Bradford and Pierpoint, 
New Hampshire. The work grew and spread 
among both the Regular and Freewill Baptists until 
it was seen in New England, New York, Pennsyl- 
vania, Ohio, and in the British Provinces. They 
would have no name but Christian, and no law but 
that of the Bible. 

The largest and most important of these move- 
ments was led by Barton W. Stone, a Presbyterian 
preacher of Kentucky, of whose work we shall speak 
more fully later. Mr. Stone was a man of strong 
mind and clean heart, and his following was large 
numerically, and influential. He saw the cause of 



24 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

his Master suffering, and he believed the remedy 
was in a return to primitive Christianity. As early 
as in 1804 there were many congregations — notably 
at Caneridge and Concord — and a constantly widen- 
ing influence extended over other States. They 
would wear no name but the name of Christ, and 
would accept no book of discipline but the Bible. 
When this people later united with the followers 
of Mr. Campbell, both were benefited, and God 
greatly blessed the union. 

c. Old Churches. There is another line of 
evidence showing the presence and power of this 
leaven, which, though peculiarly interesting and 
important, is not generally known. It is in the 
history of old churches in America, Scotland, Ire- 
land, Wales and England, endeavoring to follow 
the model of the New Testament Church. In 1818 
the church of Christ in New York, one of whose 
elders was Henry Errett, father of Isaac Errett, 
hearing of other churches striving for the divine 
model, issued a circular letter and sent to them, 
asking for fuller knowledge regarding their history, 
and a closer fellowship in their work. This New 
York church still exists, and is now known as the 
West Fifty-sixth Street Church of the Disciples. 

The church of Christ meeting in Morrison's 
Court, Glasgow, responded with the information 
that "such churches as ours have existed in Scot- 
land from thirty to forty years." This takes us 
back to 1778, or to the time of the American 
Revolution. This church is probably of Scotch- 
Baptist origin, and it antedates the Haldanes. 



BEGAN AND GREW 25 

From the church of Christ worshiping at Leith 
Walk, Edinburgh, the correspondent said: "It is 
about twenty years since we were first associated 
together." This takes us back to 1798. This was 
J. A. Haldane's famous congregation, the remains 
of the old Independent church which had moved 
to Leith Walk. 

The reply from Tubemore, Ireland, showed 
that they were organized in 1807. This was the 
spiritual home of Alexander Carson. 

The churches at Manchester and Dublin were 
established in 1810. 

The church at Criccieth, North Wales, was in 
existence in 1795, the date of its earliest records. 
But it is known to be several years older than this. 
It was a Baptist congregation. About this time 
there was a desire among some of these Baptists 
to adhere more closely to the New Testament faith 
and practice. J. R. Jones, the leader of this move- 
ment, was a man of ability. In 1799 several con- 
gregations, including Criccieth, withdrew from the 
Association, and from that time till 1841 they were 
associated with the Reformed Baptists, now known 
as Scotch Baptists. After the death of Mr. Jones 
in 1822, David Lloyd, father of Richard Lloyd, be- 
came its minister, and he, in turn, was succeeded 
by William Jones, another strong man. Mr. Jones 
came under the influence of Alexander Campbell's 
writings, with*, the result that in 1841 the church 
left the Scotch Baptists, discarding all human 
creeds and names, and took its place with the 
Restoration Movement of the nineteenth century. 



26 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

For many years Richard Lloyd, a gifted and faith- 
ful preacher of the ancient gospel, has been the 
minister at Criccieth. And his nephew and foster- 
son, David Lloyd George, Chancellor of the Ex- 
chequer of Great Britain, one of the most power- 
ful men of the world, is a member of this congrega- 
tion. By many he is regarded as the highest 
embodiment of Christian civilization on the face of 
the whole earth. Speaking of the principles by 
which his wonderful influence has been attained, 
he says: "A very large part of the economic and 
social principles I am pressing upon the English 
people I obtained from reading the writings of 
Alexander Campbell." And yet we have some 
young men, unknown outside of a very narrow 
circle, who boast of having never read the works 
of Mr. Campbell. 

These churches were ideal in their aim, if not 
in their attainments. They believed that the only 
way to restore the lost power of the New Testament 
Church was to reproduce that Church in the present 
day. They were mainly independent in origin, and 
they had little fellowship with each other. Messen- 
gers occasionally passed from one to another, but 
there was no general organization. But the fact 
that each was trying to restore the primitive faith 
according to the light of the Book brought them 
into substantial agreement. By invitation Mr. 
Campbell visited them in 1848, and was cordially 
received; and as a result they have since had a 
closer fellowship with each other, and with their 
brethren in America. 



BEGAN AND GREW 27 

We see that the religious world was ripe for 
the work of this great Restoration Movement. Like 
our Christ, it came in the fullness of time. All 
over the land pious men located both the evil and 
the remedy, and they did what they could to stay 
the ruin resulting from a divided Church. But for 
the most part they consisted of small companies 
remote from each other, and with no magnetic 
leader to mass them into one solid army and lead 
them to victory. Surely God will supply that 
leader. When poor Israel, groaning in the bondage 
of Egypt, needed such a leader, Moses was called. 
When the unfinished work of Moses was to be 
completed, Joshua appeared. When the altars of 
Jehovah had been torn down, Elijah came. When 
the secret plot of Haman to destroy the Jewish 
people in a single day was about to be consum- 
mated, Esther brought deliverance. When the 
people needed to be aroused for the coming of the 
King, John the Baptist, in trumpet tones, awoke 
the consciences of the multitudes. When Popery, 
drunk on the blood of the saints, chained the 
Bible, and held the people in densest darkness, then 
Luther, the lion-hearted, proved to be the man of 
destiny. And when the Church, cold and formal, 
had lost her zeai for the salvation of men, Wesley 
appeared. And now, in this great emergency, his- 
tory must repeat itself, for God still lives and loves, 
and his ears are open to the cries of his children. 
Another leader is needed, and he is found in the 
person of Alexander Campbell, a worthy associate 
of these illustrious predecessors. 



28 HOW THE DISCIPLES BEGAN AND GREW 



Questions. 

1. What is necessary to the understanding of 
great results? 

2. Name seven fundamental causes back of the 
Restoration Movement. 

3. Illustrate the religious unrest one hundred 
years ago. 

4. What of the work of the Haldanes? 

5. What of the work of Thomas Campbell? 

6. What of the work among religionists of 
America ? 

7. What of the work among some of the old 
churches of America and Europe? 

8. What of David Lloyd George? 

9. What of history repeating itself? 



II. 

EARLY HISTORY OF THE 
CAMPBELLS 



29 



OUTLINE— CHAPTER IL 

In the Old World. 

a. Leaders Needed. 

b. Greatness of Thomas Campbell. 

c. Birth of Thomas Campbell. 

d. Birth of Alexander Campbell. 

e. Early Life of A. Campbell. 
/. Conversion of A. Campbell. 
g. Shipwreck. 

h. Glasgow University. 
i. Preview of A. Campbell. 
In the New World. 

a. A Parallel. 

b. First Work of T. Campbell. 

c. First Trouble. 

d. Mighty Slogan. 

e. Forward Stride. 

/. Declaration and Address. 
g. Family Reunited. 



30 



II. 

Early History of the Campbells. 

In the first chapter we saw clearly that this 
movement was of God. It was providential. The 
Bible tells us that Jehovah created the earth, but 
the newspapers tell us how he governs it. His 
hand is always on the helm. When great things 
need to be done, he sees that they are done. When 
his people, looking largely to human wisdom for 
guidance, rather than to the Bible, had divided and 
subdivided and were on the verge of ruin, he saw 
to it that in many places good men with one voice, 
clear and strong, raised the cry, "Back to the 
Bible !" 

a. Leaders Needed. But it 
i. In the Old j s not enough to have a great 
cause. There must also be great 
leaders. Truth, great as it is, must become in- 
carnate in order to the greatest good. The Sermon 
on the Mount found its greatest vitality, not in 
its utterance, but in its Author. Its greatest truths 
incarnated in his sinless life are unanswerable and 
irresistible. What would the Ten Commandments 
have been without the leadership of Moses? What 
would the ninety-five theses nailed on the church 
door at Wittemberg have been but for Luther's 
leadership? And what can come of this almost 

31 



32 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

universal cry for a return to New Testament truth, 
except we have a leader? It must come to naught, 
and so the Lord sees that we have him. 

Thomas Campbell was not the leader, but his 
son, Alexander, was. But the father was the 
original mover, and it was his mission to have 
all things ready for his son when that son was 
ready to assume the leadership. It often happens 
that the man who discovers a new principle, or 
makes a valuable invention, is not the man to turn 
it to practical good. It is usual in war for the 
cavalry to bring on the battle, but the infantry and 
artillery do the main fighting. David gathered the 
material for the temple, but his son Solomon erected 
the building. 

b. Greatness of Thomas Campbell. Thomas 
Campbell was eminently fitted for the work to which 
God called him. His strong mind, his kind heart, 
his love of peace, his reverence for the word of 
God, his liberal culture, his sorrow over the evils 
of division, and his experience in the work of 
union both in the Old World and in the New, 
were elements of this fitness. 

He, because of the greatness of his son, is 
liable to be underestimated. In fact, it has been 
said that he "was eclipsed by his son." This 
gifted son, with few equals and no superiors among 
men, was richly endowed with the powers of argu- 
ment and oratory. But in intellectual insight and 
originality he was perhaps not superior to his 
father. God meant them to supplement each other 
perfectly, and the one without the other could not 



BEGAN AND GREW 33 

have succeeded as they did. The father blazed 
the way over which the son traveled to fame and 
laid the foundation on which the son built so wise- 
ly and well, hence they are in no sense rivals, any 
more than were Luther and Melancthon, or Moses 
and Joshua. Joshua could not have led Israel into 
Canaan had not Moses first brought them out of 
Egypt and through the wilderness. 

As an illustration of the father's strength, let 
it be remembered that it was he who wrote the 
"Declaration and Address/' one of the strongest 
papers of the religious world since the apostolic 
age. It was he who sounded the great war-cries, 
so thrilling and so useful in this work: "Where 
the Bible speaks, we speak; and where the Bible 
is silent, we are silent." "A thus saith the Lord, 
either in express terms, or by approved precedent, 
for every article of faith and item of religious 
practice." "Nothing ought to be received into the 
faith or worship of the church, or be made a test 
of communion among Christians, that is not as 
old as the New Testament." "The restoration of 
primitive Christianity, in its doctrine, its ordinances 
and its practice." These mighty slogans, which 
could come from no ordinary mind, are from the 
head and heart of Thomas Campbell. 

c. Birth of Thomas Campbell. Thomas 
Campbell was born in County Down, Ireland, Feb- 
ruary 1, 1763, and died in Bethany, Virginia, Janu- 
ary 1, 1854. His ancestors were from western Scot- 
land, and belonged to the famous Campbells of 
Argyleshire. In June, 1787, when in his twenty- 



34 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

fourth year, he was married to Miss Jane Corneigle, 
a descendant of the French Huguenots, a beautiful 
woman, and richly endowed with the spirit of her 
noble ancestry. Her distinguished son, speaking 
of her near the close of his life, said that she more 
nearly represented his ideal of a Christian wife and 
mother than any other woman he ever saw. 

d. Birth of Alexander Campbell. Alexander 
Campbell was born near Shane's Castle, County 
Antrim, Ireland, September 12, 1798, and died 
in Bethany, Virginia, March 4, 1866. His boy- 
hood was spent on a farm near Armagh, Rich 
Hill and Newry, when his father preached for the 
church at Ahorey. It was one of the most beau- 
tiful places in Ireland, so much so that when 
William the Third, advancing on Boyne, came 
near Newry, he was so impressed with the scenery 
that he exclaimed to his officers, "This is a country 
worth fighting for." 

e. Early Life of A. Campbell. Young 
Campbell had the best possible school advantages 
while the foundation of his education was being 
laid. He was first in a primary school at Market 
Hill, and next in an academy at Ahorey, conducted 
by his uncles, Archibald and Enos Campbell. After 
this he returned home, and his father took charge 
of his education. Like James Mill, who was the 
teacher of his great son, John Stuart Mill, Thomas 
Campbell was in the main the educator of his 
famous son. 

But the boy became tired of school and chafed 
under its restraints. He longed for outdoor life, 



BEGAN AND GREW 35 

with its rugged but life-making sports; in fact, his 
intellectual powers did not manifest themselves 
early. On one occasion, when the weather was 
warm, he sought the shade of a tree in which to 
prepare his French lesson on "The Adventures of 
Telemachus." He fell asleep and dropped his 
book, and a hungry cow, browsing near, devoured 
it. He was sharply reprimanded by his father, and 
was told that "the cow had more French in her 
stomach than he had in his head," a fact which 
he could not deny. 

His wise father diagnosed his case correctly, 
and applied the right remedy. He saw that the 
physical wants of his son were asserting themselves, 
and took away his books and gave him a plow. 
He needed a strong body through which his mas- 
sive brain could work, and the farm, the best 
gymnasium in the world, was at hand. He knew 
that a strong rower must have a strong boat. Her- 
cules in a frail craft would only hasten its destruc- 
tion by the force of his strokes. 

The father anxiously watched the experiment, 
for he did not want his son to be a farmer; and 
when he was sixteen he rejoiced to detect in his 
broad-shouldered, deep-chested boy an awakening 
thirst for books, and he was sent back to them. 
These he devoured with avidity, saying that he was 
determined to become "one of the best scholars in 
the kingdom." 

About this time the father left the farm and 
established a high-grade academy at Rich Hill. 
Here Alexander perfected his English studies, and 



36 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

did such work in Latin and Greek as was neces- 
sary for matriculation in the university. His prog- 
ress was so rapid that he was soon made assistant 
teacher in the school. 

/. Conversion of A. Campbell. Young Camp- 
bell became a Christian while at Ahorey, but it 
was with great agony of spirit. He was under the 
influence of the prevailing theology of the day, 
and thought his conversion would be accompanied 
by some strange material manifestation in vision, 
voice or sensation, as evidence of his acceptance 
by the Lord. His despondency and anxiety con- 
tinued for quite awhile. He was often alone in 
prayer. But finally he determined to cast these 
things aside and do what the Bible said, and trust 
implicitly in its promises. "From the moment I 
was able to feel this reliance on the Lord Jesus 
Christ," he said, "I obtained and enjoyed peace of 
mind. ,, This bitter experience was invaluable to 
him in after years, for God designed that he should 
flood the world with light on the subject of con- 
version, and he was now impressing him with the 
importance of the work, and showing him how 
to do it. 

g. Shipwreck. Thomas Campbell, on account 
of failing health, was sent on a voyage to America 
for rest and recuperation. Alexander, though only 
nineteen years of age, was left in charge of the 
school and family. The father, pleased with Ameri- 
ca, requested the family to join him, and they 
would make their home there. But the vessel bear- 
ing them was wrecked, and it looked as if all was 



BEGAN AND GREW 37 

lost. Signals of distress were unanswered, and 
all expected death at any moment. In this awful 
hour the future of Alexander Campbell was shaped. 
Having done all in his power for the safety of the 
family, he sat down on a piece of the broken ship 
and abandoned himself to reflection. In the solemn 
presence of death, life assumed a new meaning, and 
he promised God that if saved he would devote 
himself wholly to his service, and spend his life 
in the preaching of the Word. 

h. Glasgow University. It was late in the 
year, and sea-voyaging was dangerous, and it was 
decided to remain in Scotland till the next year, 
thus giving Mr. Campbell the long-wished-for 
opportunity of completing his studies in the famous 
University of Glasgow. God was leading him, as 
he had led Moses, in a strange way. He needed 
the touch of this great school to equip him for his 
glorious mission, as Moses needed the education 
of Egypt, and God saw that he got it. 

The new environment was full of inspiration, 
and it aroused the ambitious young student and put 
him at his best. Glasgow was a great city for that 
day — 114,000— -and was hoary with age, and rich 
in the records of twelve centuries. To a young 
man who knew only rural and village life, this 
meant much. The school was large — fifteen hun- 
dred students — and the alma mater of his father. 
Some of the old Faculty still remained, and 
teachers of the father became teachers of the son. 
No wonder that Mr. Campbell, physically strong 
and quivering with holy ambition, made wonderful 



38 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

progress in his studies. He rose at four and retired 
at ten, and every minute of the sixteen working- 
hours was made to tell for good. He was in the 
front rank of all his classes, and was one of the 
"prize men" in logic. 

While here he came directly under the influence 
of the Haldanes, and his convictions against divi- 
sions in the church, and abhorrence of a dominating 
clergy, with other important things afterwards so 
prominent in his teachings, were clarified and 
strengthened. Richardson, his biographer, referring 
to this period, says: "It may be regarded as the 
first phase of that religious reformation which he 
subsequently carried out so successfully to its 
legitimate issues." It was while here that, after 
much prayer and thought, he fully decided to aban- 
don denominationalism and devote his life to the 
union of God's people. 

i. Preview of A. Campbell. Alexander Camp- 
bell, like Saul of Tarsus, was a many-sided man. 
As an editor he stood in the front rank, as is evi- 
dent from the Christian Baptist and Millennial Har- 
binger. As an author he is seen as one of the 
best, in the sixty volumes which came from his 
pen. As a teacher Bethany College stands in our 
midst as his glorious monument to-day. As a 
business man he was a success. As a polemic per- 
haps he had no superior. As a statesman he served 
with distinction in the Constitutional Convention 
of Virginia with ex-President Madison, Chief Jus- 
tice Marshall, John Randolph of Roanoke, and 
other illustrious men of that old commonwealth. 



BEGAN AND GREW 39 

As a religious leader, in spite of the most difficult 
circumstances, he gathered about him an army of 
heroic men and women, who in a single century 
have grown into large proportions, and now stand 
in the vanguard of the mighty hosts of the Lord. 
As a preacher, by common consent, he is regarded 
as one of the best. 

Let us hear what some of the eminent men of 
the world say of him: 

Moses E. Lard: "To few men has nature been 
more kind than to Mr. Campbell. No word but 
lavish will express her gifts to him; and this must 
be accepted as true, whether it have reference to 
the inner or outer man. Physically, not one in 
a thousand was so well endowed as was he. Nature 
was in a fertile mood when she molded that large, 
sinewy body. Material was abundant and bestowed 
with no grudging hand. . . . But his greatness lay 
in his intellect. In resources of mind no word but 
opulent will describe him. Here he was great, pre- 
eminently great, in the true sense pi that fine, 
simple word. . . . We do not hesitate to affirm 
that since the last inspired man bowed his head in 
death a greater than our lamented brother has not 
risen." 

Jeremiah Black, who served both as Chief Jus- 
tice of Pennsylvania and Attorney General of the 
United States, says : "As a great preacher, he will 
be remembered with unqualified admiration by all 
who had the good fortune to hear him. The inter- 
est which he excited can hardly be explained. The 
first sentence of his discourse 'drew audience still 



40 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

as death/ and every word was heard with rapt 
attention to the close. It did not appear to be 
eloquence; it was not the enticing words of man's 
wisdom; the arts of the orator seemed to be incon- 
sistent with the simplicity of his character. It was 
logic, explanation and argument so clear that every- 
body followed without effort, and all felt that he 
was raising them to the level of a superior mind. 
Persuasion sat upon his lips. Prejudice melted 
away under the easy flow of his elocution. The 
clinching fact was always in its proper place, and 
the fine poetic illustration was ever at hand to shed 
its light over the theme. But all this does not 
account for the impressiveness of his speeches, and 
no analysis of them can give any idea of their 
power." 

Ex-President Madison says : "It was my pleasure 
to hear him very often as a preacher of the gospel, 
and I regard him as the ablest and most original 
expounder of the Scriptures I have ever heard." 

Dr. Herman Humphrey, president of Amherst 
College, says: "In listening to him you feel that 
you are in the presence of a great man. He speaks 
like a master of assemblies/' 

Dr. Bell, an eminent physician of Louisville, who 
heard him in a sermon on the Book of Hebrews, 
says: "It has been forty-five years since I heard 
that discourse, but it is as vivid in my memory as 
when I first heard it." 

Robert Graham, president of Kentucky Univer- 
sity, says: "I can hardly express my admiration 
of him in every walk of life. In the social circle 



BEGAN AND GREW 41 

he was by far the finest talker I ever heard, in the 
lecture-room the most instructive, and in the pulpit 
he had few equals, and no superior." 

James S. Lamar, a distinguished preacher and 
author, says: "The people admired him, loved him, 
hung enchained upon his lips, trusted him, and 
spread his name and fame far and wide. He 
moved in a sphere of his own. He seemed to feel 
that he had a special mission, an appointment from 
his Lord to do a peculiar and world-wide work. I 
believe that the Divine Spirit so rested upon his 
soul that he lived and thought and preached under 
the sacred and solemn pressure of this conviction. 
He was a God-appointed and God-inspired man, a 
figure statuesque, colossal, mighty; a grand and 
masterful man, worthy of his sacred mission, worthy 
of the great brotherhood whom he led into the light 
and liberty of the gospel, and worthy of the large 
place which he will one day be given in the history 
of the Church." 

George D. Prentice, the brilliant editor of the 
Louisville Journal, says: "Alexander Campbell is 
unquestionably one of the most extraordinary men 
of our time. Putting wholly out of view his tenets, 
with which we, of course, have nothing to do, he 
claims, by virtue of his intrinsic qualities as 
manifested in his achievements, a place among the 
very foremost spirits of the age. His energy, self- 
reliance and self-fidelity, if we may use the expres- 
sion, are of the stamp that belongs only to the 
world's first leaders in thought or action. His per- 
sonal excellence is without a stain or a shadow. 



42 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

His intellect is among the cleanest, richest, pro- 
foundest ever vouchsafed to man. Indeed, it seems 
to us that in the faculty of abstract thinking, in the 
sphere of pure thought, he has few, if any, living 
rivals. . . . He grasps and handles the highest, 
subtlest, most comprehensive principles as if they 
were the liveliest impressions of the senses. No 
poet's soul is more crowded with imagery than his 
is with the ripest forms of thought. Surely the life 
of a man thus excellent and gifted is a part of the 
common treasure of society. In his essential char- 
acter he belongs to no sect or party, but to the 
world." 

David Lloyd George, Chancellor of the Ex- 
chequer of Great Britain, as seen in the preceding 
chapter, says: "A very large part of the economic 
and social principles I am pressing upon the Eng- 
lish people I obtained from reading the writings 
of Alexander Campbell. " 

Robert E. Lee, the great leader of the "Lost 
Cause/' says: "He was a man in whom were illus- 
triously combined all the qualities that could adorn 
or elevate the nature to which he belonged; knowl- 
edge the most varied and extended, virtue that 
never loitered in her career nor deviated from her 
course. A man who, if he had been delegated as a 
representative of his species to one of the many 
superior worlds, would have suggested a grand idea 
of the human race." 

It is hoped that this brief preview of the hero 
of this history may quicken our interest in the 
remarkable story connected with his name. 



BEGAN AND GREW 43 

a. A Parallel. Thomas 
2. In the New Campbell, after a voyage of thir- 
World ty-five days, landed in Philadel- 

phia on May 27, 1807. This was a speedy voyage 
for that time. But when the good ship "Brutus" 
sent her passengers ashore, it seems that no one 
of them impressed himself on the bystanders as a 
man of destiny. These bystanders were as blind as 
to the character of the newcomers as were their 
European ancestors eighteen hundred years ago, 
when a little ship from Troas landed at Neapolis, 
and Paul for the first time pressed his feet on 
the soil of Europe. Just as there was no one then 
who could foresee what God would do for Europe 
and the world through this modest Asiatic preach- 
er, so no one now could divine the destiny of this 
noble spirit who had for the first time stepped on 
American soil. However, as in the afterglow the 
world knew and appreciated the great apostle, so 
will the same world yet learn to appreciate to the 
full the labors of this man, and those of his son, 
who was soon to follow. 

fc. First Work. Mr. Campbell fortunately 
found the synod of his church in session in Phila- 
delphia on his arrival. He reported to that body 
promptly, and was cordially received, and by it was 
assigned to the Presbytery of Chartiers, and was 
given work in Washington County, Pennsylvania. 
This was choice territory, with Pittsburgh, an impor- 
tant city, as its center. He located in the town of 
Washington, in the county of the same name. 

c. First Trouble. The ocean voyage and 



44 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

change of climate proved to be the right prescription 
for Mr. Campbell, and he was ready to enter upon 
his new work without delay. His hopes were 
bright, for he thought that in a new land, where 
political liberty had been so recently won, he would 
find a congenial atmosphere in which to labor for 
the spiritual liberty which he had been unable to 
secure in his old home across the sea. But he soon 
discovered that he was to be disappointed. Early in 
his American ministry he was sent up the Alleghany 
Valley to hold communion services among the scat- 
tered brethren of that region. He found other 
Presbyterians who had not for years had the 
privilege of the sacred Supper, and his big, warm 
heart cordially invited them to join in the feast. 
This was a clear violation of "the usages" of the 
Seceders, and Mr. Campbell was called to account 
for it at the next meeting of the presbytery, and 
was censured for his conduct. He plead in vain 
that his action was in harmony with the Scriptures. 
They did not deny this, but urged that he had vio- 
lated the "usages" of the church, and he should 
suffer for it. 

Mr. Campbell appealed to the Synod of North 
America, their highest church court; for while he 
was as tender and gentle as a woman, and a lover 
of peace, he was not the man to submit passively 
to a wrong which robbed him of his rights as a 
preacher, and took from his brethren sacred privi- 
leges vouchsafed to them in the word of God. This 
fine trait of his character is generally overlooked. 
He was like Melancthon in courtesy and kindness, 



BEGAN AND GREW 45 

but when the occasion demanded it, he was as cour- 
ageous as Luther. Here he was a stranger in a 
strange land, and yet he acted as if he were in 
the midst of a host of old friends, tried and true. 
In fact, the real Thomas Campbell is just now com- 
ing into view. We have not known him before; 
neither has he known himself. Hitherto he has 
been a young man at the threshold of life ; but now 
he is forty-four, with his powers well developed, 
and with an environment calling them into active 
exercise. Life heretofore has been preliminary and 
preparatory, but henceforth it is to be stern and 
real. Until now he has been a soldier in the 
camp of instruction; but the battle, fierce and 
furious, has begun. His life-work — the restora- 
tion of primitive Christianity — is coming into clearer 
outline, and, like a real hero, he confers not with 
flesh and blood, but responds at once to duty's 
call. 

His appeal to the supreme synod was masterly. 
There was nothing in it vindictive, but in calmness 
and courage he plead for religious liberty as guar- 
anteed in the Book. Here is a sample sentence of 
that appeal: "How great the injustice, how aggra- 
vated the injury will appear, to thrust from com- 
munion a Christian brother, a fellow-minister, for 
saying and doing none other things than those 
which our divine Lord and his apostles have taught. 
... I plead the cause of the Scriptural and apos- 
tolic worship of the Church, in opposition to the 
various errors and schisms which have so awfully 
corrupted and divided it." 



46 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

But his appeal was in vain, leaving him with 
but a single course to pursue in order to preserve 
his self-respect and loyalty to his convictions: de- 
clare his independence of all human tribunals; and 
this he did, saying, "Henceforth I decline all min- 
isterial connection with, or subjection to, the Asso- 
ciate Synod of North America." 

What this painful step cost Mr. Campbell, the 
refined and loving Christian gentleman, we can 
never know. But, like Paul, he was ready, if need 
be, to give up everything — even life itself — for the 
truth as he saw it in the Bible. 

d. Mighty Slogan. His withdrawal from the 
Seceders did not lessen the labors of Mr. Campbell. 
He continued to preach mainly in the homes of his 
friends, and the people heard him gladly. So 
intense was the interest aroused that a special meet- 
ing was called to consider their future course. A 
large audience accordingly gathered at the home of 
Abraham Altars, a friendly outsider, and Mr. Camp- 
bell made a great speech, exalting the Bible as the 
all-sufficient and the alone-sufficient rule of faith and 
practice, and reaching his thrilling climax in the 
famous words, "Where the Scriptures speak, we 
speak; and where the Scriptures are silent, we are 
silent." The sequel shows this to have been one of 
the most important conferences ever held on the 
American continent. 

At the conclusion of the address a deathlike 
silence settled on the audience. The impression 
was wonderful. It was a time for meditation, 
and not words. But when the silence was finally 



BEGAN AND GREW 47 

broken, the excitement was intense. Andrew Mon- 
roe, an intelligent Scotchman, was the first to speak. 
"Mr. Campbell/' he said, "if we adopt that as 
a basis, there is an end to infant baptism/' Mr. 
Campbell replied : "Of course, if infant baptism is 
not found in the Scriptures, we can have nothing 
to do with it." At this Thomas Acheson, an emo- 
tional spirit, arose and, in much excitement, ex- 
claimed: "I hope I may never see the day when 
my heart will renounce the blessed saying of the 
Scripture, 'Suffer little children to come unto me, 
and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom 
of heaven'!" And he burst into tears. James 
Foster said: "Mr. Acheson, in the Scripture which 
you have quoted there is no reference whatever 
to infant baptism." 

e. Forward Stride. The enunciation of this 
great principle was a mighty stride forward. It 
marks an epoch in religious history. The clouds 
were rifted, and the guiding star of the new move- 
ment for the first time shone clearly on the path- 
way of this unconscious reformer. The exact time 
had come for this declaration. The soil at last was 
ready for the seed, and the sower was there to 
scatter it. The soil in the Old World was preoccu- 
pied, and so he was sent across the Atlantic to 
deposit it in the virgin soil of the greatest republic 
beneath the stars. 

/. Declaration and Address. On August 17, 
1809, another important meeting was held, when it 
was determined to organize, not a church, but 
"The Christian Association of Washington." It 



48 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

was evident to all that organization was essential to 
effectiveness. "This act and this date/' says C. 
L. Loos, "may be regarded as the actual beginning 
of our reformation in an organized form." A com- 
mittee of twenty-one was appointed to recommend 
the best means of promoting the purposes of the 
organization. Mr. Campbell wrote the report of the 
committee; and, when completed, the committee 
was called together, and on September 7, 1809, it 
was unanimously adopted, and ordered published 
to the world. 

This "Declaration and Address" is one of the 
most remarkable productions of its kind in the 
world, and the brief analysis of it in the following 
chapter will richly reward a careful study. 

g. Family Reunited. On September 29, 1809, 
more than two years after Thomas Campbell left 
Ireland, the family, in charge of his son, Alexander, 
after a billowy voyage of forty-six days, landed in 
New York. Only a few days were spent in sight- 
seeing, after which the long overland trip of three 
hundred and fifty miles across the mountains to 
Washington, Pennsylvania, was begun. The father 
met them on the way, and they talked of many 
things as they journeyed homeward. But the all- 
important subject discussed by the two men was 
the "Declaration and Address/' proof-sheets of 
which Mr. Campbell had with him. And thus, most 
appropriately, the first thing read by Alexander 
Campbell in America was this "Address." He was 
delighted with it. And later, when he had given 
it careful study, he said to his father that he 



BEGAN AND GREW 49 

intended to devote his life to the propagation of 
the principles contained in it. 

Before reaching home they learned, greatly to 
each other's joy, that their views regarding sec- 
tarianism were the same. They had decided that 
a divided Church could never present to the 
world the idea of unity taught in the Scriptures. 
The circumstances under which they reached this 
conclusion were wholly different, and during the 
time they had no conference with each other on 
the subject. The father, while actively engaged in 
the work of the ministry, was forced, by the stern 
logic of facts, to this belief; and the son, while 
laboring as a student of the Bible, and observing 
the narrowness and bitterness of a divided Church, 
was reluctantly driven to the same conviction. So 
vicious was sectarian hatred that Mr. Campbell 
told his son that "nothing but the law of the land 
had kept his head upon his shoulders." Each had 
up to this time half feared to make known to the 
other these mighty inner revolutions, hence their 
joy was all the greater at the discovery, and their 
convictions were strengthened at this new evidence 
that the Father was guiding them in their ways. 



50 HOW THE DISCIPLES BEGAN AND GREW 



Questions. 

1. Why is it necessary to have truth incarnated? 

2. What is often the fate of discoverers and 
inventors ? 

3. What evidence is there of the strength of 
Thomas Campbell? 

4. Sketch the early life of Alexander Camp- 
bell. 

5. Why did Thomas Campbell come to 
America ? 

6. Tell of the shipwreck of Alexander Camp- 
bell. 

7. Sketch his life in Glasgow University. 

8. Give the preview of Alexander Campbell. 

9. Tell of the landing of Thomas Campbell in 
America. 

10. What of his first work and first trouble? 

11. Tell of his experience with the synods. 

12. Tell of his great address in the home of 
Abraham Altars. 

13. What of the "Declaration and Address"? 

14. Tell of the reunion of father and son. 



III. 

DECLARATION AND ADDRESS 



51 



OUTLINE— CHAPTER III. 

1. The Declaration. 

a. Unity, Peace and Purity. 

b. Means to This End. 

c. Disclaimer. 

2. The Address. 

a. Oneness of the Church. 

b. Co-operation. 

c. Tests of Fellowship. 

d. Perfect Constitution. 

e. Ordinances and Commandments. 
/. Inferences and Deductions. 

g. Doctrinal Information. 

h. Essential Knowledge. 

i. The Saints a Great Family. 

;. A Horrid Evil. 

k. Cause of Corruption and Division. 

/. Faith and Obedience. 

m. Human Expedients. 

3. The Appendix. 

a. The Author. 

b. Two Phases. 

c. Fundamental Wrong. 



52 



III. 

Declaration and Address. 

"The Declaration and Address/' written by 
Thomas Campbell, and published to the world by 
the Christian Association of Washington, is one of 
the most remarkable productions of its kind, and 
we would like to give it in full, but space forbids. 
It covers fifty-four closely printed pages, and con- 
tains more than thirty thousand words. But we 
give an analysis, though brief, which conveys a 
good view of the production, and suggest that the 
reader secure a copy in full for his library. It 
is a threefold address, containing the "Declaration," 
the "Address" and the "Appendix." 

a. Unity, Peace and Purity. 

"Tired and sick of bitter jar- 
tion . . J 

rings and j anglings of a party 

spirit, we desire to be at rest; and were it possible, 

we would also desire to adopt such measures as 

would give rest to our brethren throughout all the 

churches, as would restore unity, peace and purity 

to the whole Church of God." 

b. Means to This End. "Rejecting human 

opinions and the inventions of men as of authority, 

or as having any place in the Church of God, we 

might forever cease from further contentions about 

such things; returning to and holding fast by the 

53 



54 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

original standard; taking the Divine Word alone 
for our rule; the Holy Spirit for our teacher and 
guide; and Christ alone, as exhibited in the Word, 
for our salvation; that, by so doing, we may be 
at peace among ourselves, follow peace with all 
men, and holiness, without which no man shall see 
the Lord." 

c. Disclaimer. "This Society by no means 
considers itself a Church, nor do the members con- 
sider themselves as standing in that relation; but 
merely as voluntary advocates of Church reforma- 
tion; and as possessing the powers common to all 
individuals who may please to associate themselves 
for any lawful purpose; namely, the disposal of 
their time, counsel and property as they may see 
cause." 

Let it be noted here that the purpose of this 

Association was union, and not division. Like 

Wesley, they would work from within, and not 

from without, for the purification of the Church. 

mmmt a „ , Preliminary to the thirteen 

2. The Address . . ' 1t : 

propositions following, there is 

a discussion of the character of the Christian 

religion, and the spirit of the appeal made. A 

single quotation will reveal the clear thought and 

sweet spirit here. 

"It is to us a pleasing consideration that all the 

churches of Christ which mutually acknowledge 

each other as such, are not only agreed in the 

great doctrines of faith and holiness, but are also 

materially agreed as to the positive ordinances of 

the gospel institution; so that our differences, at 



BEGAN AND GREW 55 

most, are about the things in which the Kingdom 
of God does not consist; that is, about matters of 
private opinion and human invention. What a pity- 
that the Kingdom of God should be divided about 
such things? Who, then, would not be the first 
among us to give up human inventions in the wor- 
ship of God, and to cease from imposing his private 
opinions upon his brethren, that our breaches might 
thus be healed? Who would not willingly conform 
to the original pattern laid down in the New Testa- 
ment for this happy purpose? Our dear brethren 
of all denominations will please to consider that we 
have our educational prejudices and particular cus- 
toms to struggle against as well as they. But this 
we do sincerely declare, that there is nothing that 
we have hitherto received as matters of faith or 
practice, which is not expressly taught in the Word 
of God, either in express terms or approved prec- 
edent, that we would not heartily relinquish, so 
that we might return to the original unity of the 
Christian Church; and in this happy unity, enjoy 
full communion with all our brethren in peace and 
charity. The like dutiful condescension we expect 
of all that are seriously impressed with a sense of 
the duty they owe to God, to each other, and to 
their perishing brethren of mankind. . . . With 
you all we desire to unite in the bands of Christian 
unity — Christ alone being the Head; his word the 
rule; an explicit belief of, and conformity to, it in 
all things, the terms. More than this you will not 
require of us; and less we can not require of you." 
In all literature nothing can be found clearer 



56 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

in thought, gentler or more considerate in expres- 
sion, and more free from the touch and taint of 
sectarianism, than this. 

Then follow the itemized propositions, preceded, 
however, by this precautionary word: "Let none 
imagine that the enjoined propositions are intended 
as an overture toward a new creed or standard of 
the Church. Nothing can be further from our 
intention. They are merely designed to open the 
way that we may come fairly and firmly to original 
ground upon clear and certain promises, and take 
up things just as the Apostles left them. Having 
said so much to solicit attention and prevent mis- 
take, we submit as follows: 

a. Oneness of the Church. "That the Church 
of Christ on earth is essentially, intentionally, and 
constitutionally one; consisting of all those in every 
place that profess faith in Christ and obedience to 
him in all things according to the Scriptures, and 
that manifest the same by their tempers and con- 
duct. 

b. Co-operation. "That although the Church 
must necessarily exist in distinct societies, locally 
separate one from another; yet there ought to be 
no schisms, no uncharitable divisions among them. 
They ought to receive each other as Christ hath 
received them to the glory of God. And for this 
purpose they ought all to walk by the same rule, 
to mind and speak the same thing, and to be per- 
fectly joined together in the same mind and judg- 
ment. 

c. Tests of Fellowship. "That, in order to 



BEGAN AND GREW 57 

this, nothing ought to be inculcated as articles of 
faith, nor required as terms of communion, but what 
is expressly taught in the word of God, . . . 
either in expressed terms, or by approved precedent* 

d. The Perfect Constitution. "That although 
the Old and New Testaments are inseparably con- 
nected, making one perfect revelation of the 
Divine will, for the edification and salvation of the 
Church, and therefore in that respect can not be 
separated; yet as to what directly belongs to their 
immediate object, the New Testament is a perfect 
constitution for the worship, discipline and govern- 
ment of the New Testament Church, and as per- 
fect a rule for the particular duties of its members, 
as the Old Testament was for the Old Testament 
Church. 

e. Ordinances and Commandments. "That 
with respect to the commands and ordinances of 
our Lord, about which the Scriptures are silent as 
to the express time or manner of performance, if 
any such there be, no human authority has power 
to interfere in order to supply the supposed 
deficiency, by making laws for the Church. Much 
less has any human authority power to impose 
new commands or ordinances not enjoined by the 
Lord. Nothing ought to be received into the faith 
or worship of the Church, or be made a term of 
communion among Christians, that is not as old as 
the New Testament. 

/. Inferences and Deductions. "That al- 
though inferences and deductions from Scripture 
premises, when fairly inferred, may be truly called 



58 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

the doctrine of God's Word, yet they are not bind- 
ing upon the consciences of Christians farther than 
they perceive the connection; for their faith must 
not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power 
of God. 

g. Doctrinal Information. "That although 
doctrinal exhibitions of Divine truths, and defen- 
sive testimonies in opposition to prevailing errors, 
be expedient; and the more full and explicit they 
be for those purposes the better ; yet as these 
must be in a great measure the effect of human 
reasoning, they ought not to be made terms of 
Christian communion, unless we suppose, what is 
contrary to fact, that none have a right to the 
communion of the Church but such as possess a 
clear and decisive judgment, or are come to a 
high degree of doctrinal information; whereas the 
Church from the beginning did, and ever will, con- 
sist of little children, and young men, as well as 
fathers. 

h. Essential Knowledge. "That as it is not 
necessary that persons should have a particular 
knowledge or a distinct apprehension of all divinely 
revealed truths in order to entitle them to a place 
in the Church; neither should they, for this pur- 
pose, be required to make a profession more exten- 
sive than their knowledge; but that, on the contrary, 
they have a due measure of Scriptural knowledge 
respecting their lost condition, and of the way of 
salvation through Jesus Christ, accompanied with a 
profession of faith in, and obedience to, Him in all 
things according to His Word, is all that is neces- 



BEGAN AND GREW 59 

sary to qualify them for admission into the 
Church. 

i. The Saints a Great Family. "That all 
that are enabled to make such a profession, and to 
manifest it in their conduct, should consider each 
other as the precious saints of God, should love 
each other as brethren, children of the same family 
and Father, temples of the same Spirit, members 
of the same body, subjects of the same grace, ob- 
jects of the same Divine love, bought with the same 
price, and joint-heirs of the same inheritance. Whom 
God hath thus joined together no man should dare 
to put asunder. 

/. A Horrid Evil. "That division among Chris- 
tians is a horrid evil, fraught with many evils. It 
is anti-Christian, as it destroys the visible unity of 
the body of Christ; as if he were divided against 
Himself, excluding and excommunicating a part of 
Himself. It is anti-Scriptural, as being strictly pro- 
hibited by His sovereign authority; a direct viola- 
tion of His expressed command. It is anti-natural, 
as it excites Christians to contemn, to hate and 
oppose one another, who are by the highest and 
most endearing obligations to love each other as 
brethren, even as Christ has loved them. 

k. Cause of Corruption and Division. 'That 
(in some instances) a partial neglect of the revealed 
will of God; and (in others) an assumed authority 
for making human opinions and human inventions 
a term of communion by introducing them into the 
constitution, faith or worship of the Church; are, 
and have been, the immediate, obvious and univer- 



60 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

sally acknowledged causes of all the corruptions 
and divisions that ever have taken place in the 
Church of God. 

/. Faith and Obedience. "That all that is 
necessary to the highest state of perfection and 
purity in the Church, is, first, that none be received 
as members but such as having that due measure 
of Scriptural knowledge described above, do profess 
their faith in Christ and obedience to Him in all 
things according to the Scriptures; nor, second- 
ly, that any be retained in her communion longer 
than they continue to manifest the reality of their 
profession by their conduct; thirdly, that her 
ministers, duly and Scripturally qualified, incul- 
cate none other things than those very articles of 
faith and holiness expressly revealed in the Word 
of God. Lastly, that in all their administration 
they keep close by the observances of all the ordi- 
nances, after the example of the primitive Church, 
exhibited in the New Testament, without any addi- 
tions whatsoever of human opinions or inventions 
of men. 

m. Human Expedients. 'That if any circum- 
stantials indispensably necessary to the observance 
of Divine ordinances be not found upon the page 
of revelation, such, and such only, as are absolutely 
necessary for this purpose, should be adopted, under 
the title of human expedients, without any pre- 
tence to a more sacred origin, — so that any subse- 
quent alteration or difference in the observance of 
these things might produce no contention nor divi- 
sion in the Church." 



BEGAN AND GREW 61 

_, _. The Appendix is an effort to 

3. The Appendix , -1.1 1 • 

make absolutely plain every point 

in the foregoing at all liable to be misunderstood. 

a. The Author. This great document shows 
its author a man of great head and heart, for none 
but a great head could have conceived it, and none 
but a great heart could have so sweetened it with the 
spirit of the Master. It became the magna charta 
of the great Restoration Movement which followed. 
It might also be called a Declaration of Independ- 
ence, for, like the one written by Thomas Jeffer- 
son, it was a protest against spiritual tyranny, and 
a plea for larger liberty in the realm of the soul. 
So fully and so fairly does it cover the questions 
involved, that no attempt was ever made by the 
opposers of the movement to controvert a single 
position which it contains. 

b. Two Phases. The work of the Campbells 
has two distinct and different phases. Here it is 
seen in its first phase, showing them willing, like 
Wesley in the Church of England, to remain with- 
in the fold of denominationalism on certain condi- 
tions. Mr. Campbell, in the Harbinger of 1837, 
says: "So fully were we aware of the evils of 
schism, and so reluctant to assume the attitude of 
a new party, that we proposed to continue in the 
Presbyterian connection, even after we were con- 
vinced of various imperfections in the form of 
its government, in its system of discipline, in its 
administration of Christian ordinances, and of the 
want of Scriptural warrant for infant baptism; 
provided only that they would allow us to follow 



62 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

our own convictions by not obliging us to do what 
we could not approve, and allowing us to teach and 
enforce only those matters for which we could 
produce clear Scriptural authority, and make all 
the rest a subject of forbearance till further 
enlightened." 

Evidently they had their doubts as to whether 
the goal for which they were striving — Christian 
union — could be attained in this way ; but their con- 
sciousness of the evils of division, and their aver- 
sion to doing anything that would make them 
appear like a new denomination, constrained them 
to give the attempt a fair test. The significant phrase 
"till further enlightened" indicates that they were 
not sure of their footing. But the longer the test 
continued, the stronger was the conviction that the 
plan would not work. The walls surrounding the 
different religious bodies were so strong, and the 
bitterness within was so intense, that not even a 
respectable federation could be formed. Some were 
unwilling to be known even as allies of others. 

c. The Fundamental Wrong. Surrounded by 
an atmosphere like this, these men soon discovered 
that there was something fundamentally wrong. 
They saw themselves as physicians dealing with the 
surface indications of a disease when the real 
trouble was in the blood of the patient. Denomina- 
tionalism itself was a surface indication of a con- 
stitutional wrong back of it; and even though they 
had succeeded in banding together its different 
members, the fabric would have fallen for want of 
a foundation. The cause of sickness must be 



BEGAN AND GREW 63 

removed before we can reasonably look for health. 
The original Church was united ; its Author and its 
inspired builders so erected it, and therefore union 
is right and division is wrong. The clear-cut tones 
of their great slogan, "Where the Bible speaks, 
we speak; where the Bible is silent, we are silent, ,, 
were distinctly heard above the din and confusion 
of the contending factions — they were "further 
enlightened" — and they saw that their goal could be 
reached only by the restoration of the New Testa- 
ment Church, and so ever afterward they bent their 
every energy to this end. Henceforth nothing short 
of the full and complete restoration of the Apos- 
tolic Church in its faith, its ordinances and its 
life interested them. 

This is the second phase of their work, and no 
man can understand it, or correctly represent it, 
who is blind to this distinction. At first they were 
willing, for the sake of union, to overlook many 
things taught in the Scriptures, among them the 
ordinances; but later they went back of all denom- 
inationalism, and all uninspired creeds and councils, 
to the fountain-head, and began the work of the 
reproduction of the Church as it was in the begin- 
ning. Then, and not before, their movement began 
to move, because until now it was on the wrong 
track; and if we would keep it moving, we must 
see that it remains on this track. 



64 HOW THE DISCIPLES BEGAN AND GREW 



Questions. 

1. Why not give the "Declaration and Address" 
in full? 

2. How many pages and words in it? 

3. What is its threefold division? 

4. Name the three points in the first division. 

5. Name the thirteen points in the second 
division. 

6. What is the purpose of the third division? 

7. State the two phases of the work of the 
Campbells. 

8. Can this work be understood, or correctly 
represented, without a recognition of these phases? 



IV. 
PREPARATORY WORK 



65 



OUTLINE— CHAPTER IV. 

1. Alexander Campbell's First Sermon. 

2. Trouble with the Pittsburgh Synod. 

3. Positions of Father and Son Reversed. 

4. The Church in the Wilderness. 

5. Progress. 

a. Sick Church Discovered. 

b. Causes of the Sickness. 

c. Remedy Discovered. 



66 



IV. 

Preparatory Work. 

i. Alexander Not long after the coming of 

Campbell's First the son, the father asked him 
Sermon t0 c i ose one f his meetings with 

an exhortation. This was his first attempt to take 
any public part in the worship. He spoke easily 
and effectively, and at the close his father was 
heard in an undertone to say, "Very well, very 
well." On July 15, 1810, when in his twenty-sec- 
ond year, he preached his first sermon. He spoke 
to a large audience in a grove near their home. It 
was well prepared, and delivered with eloquence 
and force, so much so that at its close many said 
he was a better preacher than his father; a high 
compliment truly, for all regarded Thomas Camp- 
bell as one of the greatest preachers of his day. 
His text was : "Whosoever heareth these sayings of 
mine, and doeth them, I will liken him to a man 
who built his house on a rock," etc. (Matt. 7:24- 
27). His text was the keynote to the strong life- 
current now beginning to manifest itself in this 
gifted young man. It was a bugle-call to the world 
to hear and heed the words of God rather than 
those of men. Soon after this he preached the 
first sermon at Brush Run, their first congregation, 
when his text was again prophetic. It was from 

67 



68 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

Job 8:7: "Though thy beginning was small, yet 
thy latter end should greatly increase." How 
literally true has this promise been fulfilled in the 
history of this people. Then they were indeed a 
"feeble folk/' but in a single short century they 
have become a mighty army, a million and a half 
strong, and now constitute one of the greatest fac- 
tors in the religious world. 

The "Declaration and Ad- 
s' Trouble with dress ^ as tQ its immediate effect 

Pittsburgh Synod on the P eo P le > was a disappoint- 
ment to Mr. Campbell. Its ar- 
guments, overtures and entreaties, though kind in 
spirit, and thoroughly Scriptural, seemed powerless 
among them. They neither accepted nor rejected 
them, but let them severely alone. And it looked as 
if the "Association" was drifting in the direction of 
a distinct religious body, and they were in danger of 
becoming another sect in the ridiculous attitude of 
pleading for the destruction of all others. Such a 
thought was most abhorrent to the Campbells. Like 
most of the reformers before them, they would not 
add another to the already long list of sectarian 
bodies, but would correct their wrongs from within. 
And while they were worrying over the matter, a 
solicitation came for them to form a union with 
another Presbyterian body. The son opposed it 
privately, but felt that he was too young to make 
public his opposition. His high regard for the judg- 
ment of his father also restrained him. And so, on 
October 4, 1810, Thomas Campbell, on behalf of the 
"Association/' applied for membership in the Pitts- 



BEGAN AND GREW 69 

burgh Synod. In the application he was careful to 
guard against all misunderstandings. He made it 
clear that they were not a church, but only a society 
of Christians formed for the purpose of promoting 
Christian union; neither would they submit to the 
laws of the Synod except as those laws harmonized 
with the Bible. In a word, they were not to 
become Presbyterians, but would co-operate with 
them in their work. They were neither ready to 
lose their identity nor to modify their lofty aim. 

Under the circumstances, of course, the applica- 
tion was denied. "For a party to have admitted 
into its bosom those who were avowedly bent on 
the destruction of partyism," says Richardson, 
"would have been suicidal. It would have been 
only to repeat, in another form, the story of the 
wooden horse of Troy, and to have the gates of 
its well-walled ecclesiastical city thrown open to its 
enemies." But Mr. Campbell's dread of increas- 
ing the number of denominations, for the moment, 
seemed to blind him to the absurdity of the situa- 
tion. 

Had the Synod been as courteous in its refusal 
as Mr. Campbell was in his application, the result 
would have been different; but it went out of its 
way to say some very unkind things, and closed 
with these words : "For the above, and many other 
important reasons, Mr. Campbell's request can not 
be granted." Of course no self-respecting man, 
however averse to controversy, could remain silent 
under these circumstances, and so Mr. Campbell 
demanded to know what was included in the omni- 



70 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

bus phrase, "many other reasons/' He was assured 
that no immorality was implied, but that it referred 
to four grave errors: (1) That he had taught that 
there were opinions in the "Confession of Faith" 
not found in the Bible; (2) that infant baptism 
was not authorized by the Scriptures; (3) that he 
was opposed to human creeds, and (4) that he 
encouraged his son to preach without any regular 
authority. 

When he saw that his character was not 
attacked, Mr. Campbell was disposed to dismiss 
the matter without comment. But not so with his 
son. His opposition to the whole affair in the 
beginning now being vindicated, he felt that the 
time for weak submission had passed, and that 
something aggressive was demanded. He was 
young, his blood was hot, and he was unwilling 
to stand by and allow the Synod to go out of its 
way to mistreat his honored father and his breth- 
ren. And though inexperienced in religious polem- 
ics, like David, he was ready to meet any Goliath 
who would champion what he believed to be the 
wrong. Accordingly, at the semi-annual meeting of 
the Association now near at hand, he addressed 
a large audience, setting forth its spirit and pur- 
pose. 

Little did the Synod think that this bold youth 
who thus took up the gauntlet which they had 
thrown down would soon meet and overthrow 
the greatest champions of denominationalism and 
infidelity in the land. They never dreamed of his 
extraordinary power. "But," as Grafton says, 



BEGAN AND GREW 71 

"Alexander Campbell was no ordinary young man. 
Like Minerva, who stepped full-grown from the 
brain of Jove, he stepped upon the platform an 
accomplished speaker, a master of assemblies, 
already possessed with the power to sway men's 
hearts." 

At the close of his great ad- 
3. Positions of dregs the positions of the father 
Father and Son , A TT ., 

Reversed a son were reversed. until 

now the father was the recog- 
nised leader. It was his voice which first pointed 
out the sin of division and the way to union in 
Christ. It was his pen which wrote the "Declaration 
and Address," the most important production of the 
age. But henceforth the son, without edict of church 
or council, and without conference with the father, 
takes his honored and responsible place. The day 
had come when the opposition had grown so strong 
and tyrannical that a more aggressive leader was 
needed, and the father instinctively and gladly 
stepped to the rear, and, as he passed, he threw his 
mantle over the shoulders of his son. 

The change came by the direction of God. 
These were providential men about whom we 
are speaking. Thomas Campbell was by nature 
and training the man to discover the need of the 
religious world. But it required one less averse 
to conflict, and less concerned about immediate 
results, to apply the remedy. A bold, strong, dar- 
ing leader was needed, and his son, Alexander, 
was the man for the hour. But this does not 
reflect unfavorably on the father. It is no reflec- 



72 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

tion on the surveyor of a great highway that 
another is called to build the road. Is John the 
Baptist any less a hero because as the "Morning 
Star" he was eclipsed by the "Sun of Righteous- 
ness"? Is it not honor enough for the father that 
he wrought out the platform of the greatest relig- 
ious movement since the apostolic age, and trained 
a son to present it successfully to men? It was 
Jehovah's plan that the father should lay the foun- 
dation and the son should build thereon. 

After the failure of this well- 
4. The Church in rr . , * 

\l. -cxr-u meant effort there was no course 

the Wilderness 

open but to organize a church. 

They called it "Brush Run." It was veritably a 
church in the wilderness. This step was not of 
choice, but of compulsion. They could not other- 
wise enjoy their religious privileges, or perform 
their sacred obligations. The organization was 
effected May 4, 1811, with a membership of thirty. 
Thomas Campbell was elected elder; John Dawson, 
George Sharp, William Gilchrist and James Foster 
were chosen deacons. On January 1, 1812, Alex- 
ander Campbell was ordained as a preacher. 

At their first meeting, June 16, Alexander 
Campbell preached and the Lord's Supper followed. 
Several of the members declined the emblems, and, 
on inquiry as to the cause, it was learned that as 
they had not been baptized they felt they had no 
right to them. It was also discovered that nothing 
but immersion would satisfy them. Neither of the 
Campbells had been immersed, but as their plan 
was to make this a question of forbearance, allow- 



BEGAN AND GREW 73 

ing each one to settle it for himself, without dis- 
cussion, they were buried with their Lord in the 
waters of Buffalo Creek. 

^ Let us pause for a moment 

c Profifrcss 

and note some steps of progress 

that had been made thus far: 

a. They Had Discovered that the Church 
Was Sick. This was important, for men will have 
nothing to do with the doctor until convinced that 
they are sick. How many consumptives might have 
lived longer but for a fatal error at this point. 

&. They Had Located the Causes of Her 
Sickness. Among these causes were division, 
absence of love for each other among these divi- 
sions, a beclouded theology, human creeds and 
rank infidelity. A correct diagnosis is of the 
greatest importance. 

c. They Had Found the Remedy. Union in 
the Christ with the Bible as the basis of authority. 
This meant the restoration of the New Testament 
Church, the most important of all. 

This was remarkable progress, all things con- 
sidered. This heroic little band, our "Pilgrim 
Fathers," saw not fully the way they were going, 
but well they knew their Guide. They had dis- 
covered a few of the fundamental principles and 
had embraced them with their whole hearts. Other 
questions, such as the plan of salvation and the 
action and meaning of baptism, which afterwards 
loomed up large, had scarcely been thought of. But 
the leaven was in the lump, and time would do the 
rest. It is not so important where a man is as the 



74 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

direction in which he is headed. These men were 
a long way from the Apostolic Church, but their 
loins were girded, the pillar of light was leading, 
and they were headed in that direction. 

Alexander Campbell was married to Miss Mar- 
garet Brown, daughter of John Brown, of Brooke 
County, Virginia (now West Virginia), March 13, 
1811. Just one year later a little girl came into the 
home, and brought them many blessings, among 
them a demand that the question of infant baptism 
be restudied. Questions are never settled until they 
are settled right. Like Banquo's ghost, they refuse 
to down until they are downed according to the 
eternal principles of truth. 

As already seen, the Campbells had decided that 
this was to be a question of forbearance, each one 
deciding it for himself. "As I am sure," said 
Alexander Campbell, "it is unscriptural to make 
this matter a test of communion, I let it slip. I 
wish to think and let think on these matters." Here 
is proof of the fact that we often look at a thing, 
but do not see it. Two things are essential to 
sight — the object and the angle. There is an angle 
in which light is absorbed by an object, and there 
is one in which it is reflected by it, hence an object 
is visible or invisible, important or unimportant, 
according to the viewpoint. This question, as seen 
from the viewpoint of their education and inherit- 
ance, was not to be neglected, but it was not to be 
made a test of fellowship. Most of the members 
at Brush Run had been baptized in infancy, and 
thought they had done their duty in the matter. 



BEGAN AND GREW 75 

[Thomas Campbell, expressing the prevailing idea 
on the subject, said that "it was not necessary 
for them to go, as it were, out of the church mere- 
ly for the purpose of coming in again by the regular 
and appointed way." 

But a baby is a revolutionizing power in the 
home. Until it comes, the whole great question of 
babyhood, one of the truly great questions of the 
world, is treated theoretically. And if there is any 
one better qualified to deal with it than another, 
it is the one who has had no experience with it. 
But after the baby arrives, the question ceases to be 
theoretical, and becomes most intensely practical. 
The ancestors of this particular child had for 
generations been believers in infant baptism. But 
the grandfather and father had solemnly agreed 
that all religious questions should be settled by the 
Bible. Their motto was: "Where the Bible speaks, 
we speak; where the Bible is silent, we are silent." 
Hence they turn to the old Book for light. Being 
a thorough Greek scholar, the father went into the 
original with his investigations. He was soon 
satisfied that a penitent believer was the only Bible 
subject of baptism. He was startled and stunned 
at the discovery, but he had the courage of his 
convictions, and it was once for all accepted. He 
did not stop here, but pressed his investigations 
into the meaning of the original word, and in a 
little while was convinced that it meant immersion. 
He paused for a moment, dazed and shocked, but 
it was only for a moment. His ancestral faith, 
hoary with age and honors, was being destroyed, 



76 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

and he could not witness the scene except with deep 
emotion. But, being a logician, he saw that bad 
as these two discoveries were, the worst was yet 
to come. If neither affusion nor infant baptism 
was in the Book, then he had never been baptized. 
The wife fully agreed with her husband, and they 
lost no time in adjusting themselves to the new 
light shining on their pathway. Matthias Luce, a 
Baptist preacher, agreed to immerse them. The 
son, always thoughtful of his father, apprized him 
of his purpose, before taking the step. He was 
rather reticent, but, knowing the competency of his 
son, both in scholarship and character, to settle such 
questions, he interposed no objections. 

The agitation in the Campbell family on the 
subject of baptism was widespread, and yet there 
had been no conferences on the subject. Dorothea, 
a sister of Alexander, told her brother that she had 
been reading her Bible carefully, and w r as convinced 
that it did not teach infant baptism, and she asked 
him to speak to her father about it. The brother, 
smiling, told her that he and his wife had reached 
the same conclusion, and that he was then on his 
way to see Mr. Luce about baptizing them. Here 
is another proof that God was moving on the 
hearts of the people and leading them to the truth 
as it was in the Scriptures. 

June 12, 1812, was the day of the baptisms, and 
Buffalo Creek the place. Mr. Luce, on his way to 
Buffalo, spent the night with Thomas Campbell. 
The next morning, as they were about to start to 
the water, Mr. Campbell told him that he and his 



BEGAN AND GREW 77 

wife, after a thorough study of the question, had 
decided to be immersed. This was the first intima- 
tion to others that the older people had also been 
involved in the baptismal agitation, and it added 
greatly to the interest of the subject. 

The prominence of the parties to be baptized, 
and the novelty of the scene (for Baptists were not 
numerous in that section), attracted an immense 
audience to the home of David Bryant, near the 
Buffalo. Thomas Campbell, in an elaborate address, 
gave the reasons resulting in this action, and said 
they must walk in the light as God had it shine on 
their way. Alexander followed in a strong address, 
emphasizing the two points that immersion alone 
was Bible baptism, and that the penitent believer 
was the only proper subject of the ordinance. 
James Hanen and wife were convinced by this 
address, and the seven were baptized by Mr. Luce 
on this occasion. 

Mr. Campbell at this time took another advanced 
step in the restoration of the primitive practice. He 
and Mr. Luce had agreed that the ordinance should 
be in strict harmony with apostolic custom, and 
as there was no precedent for the "religious ex- 
perience" practiced by Baptists as a prerequisite 
for baptism, this was to be omitted, and the con- 
fession made by Peter at Csesarea Philippi, "Thou 
art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 
16:17, 18), would be substituted in its place. Mr. 
Luce hesitated here, not because the change sug- 
gested was not Biblical, but because it was not 
according to "Baptist usage" ; but he finally yielded, 



78 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

saying that he believed it to be right, and he would 
do his duty and risk the censure likely to be heaped 
upon him. And so, perhaps, here for the first 
time "the good confession," as practiced by the 
early Church, was honored and emphasized on 
American soil. 

The influence of this meeting was immediate 
and widespread. On the next Lord's Day at Brush 
Run thirteen others made "the good confession," 
and were baptized by Thomas Campbell. Many 
others followed their example, and in a short time 
the church was composed almost entirely of bap- 
tized believers. But a few turned away from them, 
refusing to discredit the faith of their ancestry. 
They could agree on everything except baptism, and 
so Richardson well says that "immersion, apt 
emblem of separation from the world, occasioned 
a separation between those who had been pre- 
viously united in religious fellowship." 

They were making rapid progress in their search 
for the "old paths." The discovery of one truth 
led to the discovery of others. They were like 
travelers in a forest. Often the finding of a single 
dim path leads to others not so dim, till finally 
they are on a well-beaten roadway which is easily 
followed. We have already seen three impor- 
tant discoveries, and now we see three others. 
The first three are general in their character, but 
these have to do with the details in giving one's 
self to God. They are: 

1. That immersion is the baptism of the Bible. 
They had received without question the faith of 



BEGAN AND GREW 79 

their fathers for generations. But when forced 
to study the matter for themselves, as honest 
scholars, they saw at once that immersion alone 
was taught in the Book, and that affusion was of 
a later date, and of human origin. 

2. That the penitent believer zvas the only proper 
subject of baptism. The baptism of infants, like 
sprinkling and pouring, had been practiced so long 
that it would have been almost sacrilegious to ques- 
tion its validity. But when they were compelled 
to find Bible authority for the baptism of their 
baby, or leave it unbaptized, again, as conscientious 
scholars, they had to abandon one of their most 
cherished traditions. 

3. That "the good confession," made from the 
heart, was the sole condition preceding baptism. 
They saw that Christ was the only Saviour of 
men, and when the lost would come to him they 
were not required to relate a "Christian experience/' 
a thing impossible for the sinner, but to confess 
him as their personal Saviour, and, on the confes- 
sion of faith, be baptized into his name. 

As Alexander is now the recognized leader 
of the great work inaugurated by his father, it is 
well that we hear a word from him on the ques- 
tions before them at this time. In giving his 
reasons for not being a "party man," he said: 

1. "Because Christ has forbidden me. He has 
commanded us to keep the unity of the Spirit; to 
be of one mind and one judgment; and to call no 
man master on the earth." 

2. "Because no party would receive into com- 



80 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

munion all whom God would receive into heaven. 
God loves his children more than our creeds." 

3. "But if I am asked by a partisan, 'Could 
you not join us and let these things alone?' I 
answer, No, because — 

"(1) The man who promotes the interest of a 
party stands next in guilt to the man that made 
it. The man that puts the second stone on a build- 
ing is as instrumental in its erection as the man 
that laid the first. 

"(2) All parties oppose reformation. They all 
pray for it, but will not work for it. None of 
them dare to return to the original standard. I 
speak not against any particular denomination, but 
against all." 

These clear-cut utterances show that this young 
man was not simply a religious zealot, but a 
philosopher, with an intelligent appreciation of the 
mighty task to which his Master had called him. 



BEGAN AND GREW 81 



Review. 



1. What of Alexander Campbell's first two 
sermons ? 

2. Tell of the experience of the Campbells with 
the Pittsburgh Synod. 

3. Tell of the change of leaders. 

4. What of the organization of the Brush 
Run Church? 

5. Name four points of progress. 

6. Tell of the marriage of A. Campbell. 

7. What of the struggle with the baptismal 
question ? 

8. Tell of the immersion of the Campbells. 

9. What of the effect on Brush Run Church? 

10. Name three other points of progress. 

11. Why was A. Campbell not a "party man"? 



V. 

INTO AND OUT OF THE 
BAPTIST CHURCH 



83 



OUTLINE— CHAPTER V. 

1. Immediate Results. 

a. Enemies. 

b. Friends. 

c. Influence. 

d. Lessons. 

2. Sermon on the Law. 

3. "Christian Baptist." 

a. Name. 

b. Prospectus. 

c. "Bethany." 

d. Influence. 

e. Raking Fire. 

/. Destructive and Constructive. 

4. "Millennial Harbinger." 

5. Into the Mahoning Association. 

a. Eagle in a Storm. 
&. Great Lieutenants. 

c. Scott's Signal Honor. 

d. Tidal Wave. 

6. Out of the Baptist Church. 

7. Causes of Separation. 

a. Divisions of the Bible. 
6. Design of Baptism. 

c. Conversion. 

d. Creeds. 

e. Administration of Baptism. 
/. Reception of Members. 

g. Call to the Ministry. 
h. Lord's Supper. 

84 



V. 

Into and Out of the Baptist Church. 

a. Enemies. The change of 
i. Immediate Re- ^ Brugh Run Church { 

suits 

society of immersed believers nat- 
urally produced both enemies and friends — enemies 
among Presbyterians and friends among Baptists. 
The community was strongly pedobaptist, and the 
clergy, already displeased with Mr. Campbell's 
teaching, aroused and cultivated a bitter opposition 
against him. Their influence then was great — much 
greater than to-day — and the very atmosphere was 
impregnated with suspicion and misrepresentation. 
Friendships were sundered, business relations were 
disturbed, and homes were made unhappy. It even 
invaded the sacred places of public worship. More 
than once, when Thomas Campbell was baptizing, 
sticks and stones were thrown into the water, 
accompanied with threats of physical violence. But 
he always preserved the dignity and spirit of the 
Christian gentleman, and thus turned the coarse 
indignities into a blessing for himself and the 
cause he plead. But it is significant that his son 
had no such annoyances at his meetings. There was 
something in the tone of his voice and in the 
flash of his eye that forbade them, however bitter 
the feelings of his enemies. He was a born 

85 



86 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

leader of men, and this power to cower an insolent 
foe was a part of his equipment as such. 

b. Friends. But over against this opposition 
there was a corresponding sympathy among the 
Baptists. They were not numerous in the vicinity 
of Brush Run, but eastward on the Monongahela 
River, and in the fertile valleys at the base of the 
Alleghany Mountains, they were sufficiently so to 
have an Association, called Redstone, named for 
an old Indian fort sixty miles above Pittsburgh, 
where Brownsville is now situated. This Associa- 
tion urged Brush Run to enter their fellowship, 
claiming that they held enough in common to jus- 
tify the union. They felt a pardonable pride in the 
fact that these two strong and scholarly men, after 
thorough investigation, had adopted their views on 
the action and subjects of baptism. But the Camp- 
bells, remembering their experience with the Pres- 
byterians, were a little shy. However, after much 
thought and prayer, and still anxious to avoid 
even the appearance of forming a new denomina- 
tion, they decided, on certain conditions, to enter 
the Redstone Association. This matter was 
brought before the Brush Run Church in the 
autumn of 1813, and it was decided to accept the 
invitation from their Baptist brethren on the condi- 
tion that they be "allowed to teach and preach what- 
ever they learned from the Holy Scriptures/' 
"regardless of any creed or formula in Christen- 
dom/' This decision was presented to the Associa- 
tion, and after considerable discussion it was voted 
to receive them. 



BEGAN AND GREW 87 

c. Increased Influence. After this the Baptist 
churches were thrown open to Mr. Campbell, and 
his services were sought far and wide by his new 
brethren, and, mounted on his faithful horse, he 
gladly responded to the calls. Wherever he went 
he was bold to make known his peculiar views. He 
would hide nothing from them. He discussed such 
questions as the place and purpose of baptism ; the 
Lord's Supper; regeneration; conversion; Christian 
union; the covenants; the law and the gospel, etc. 
Great audiences flocked to hear him, and friends 
were made by the thousands. He soon was 
regarded as the leading champion of their cause, 
and when they needed a special representative on 
important occasions they turned to him. At their 
request he met in debate Rev. John Walker, at Mt. 
Pleasant, Ohio, in 1820, and Rev. William McCalla, 
both Presbyterians, at Washington, Kentucky, in 
1822. These discussions added greatly to his pres- 
tige as a scholar, orator and polemic, and his Bap- 
tist brethren drew nearer to him, and began to 
take him more fully into their confidence. At a 
private conference with a number of the preachers 
at the close of the McCalla debate, he candidly 
but kindly said to them: "Brethren, I fear that if 
you knew me better you would esteem and love me 
less, for let me tell you that I have almost as much 
against you Baptists as I have against the Presby- 
terians." 

d. Important Lessons. Mr. Campbell learned 
two important lessons from the discussions: First, 
their value as educational agencies. "A week's 



88 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

debating," he said, "is worth a year's preaching ;" 
and, second, the value of the printing-press in dis- 
seminating truth. Both debates were published in 
book form, and wherever they went they were like 
torchlights among the people, who were generally 
in the dark on the questions discussed. 

But trouble was brewing for 
2 - Serr ^° n the Mr. Campbell in the Baptist fold. 
He had some enemies who 
hounded his every step, and who were always on 
the lookout for some new charge against him. As 
a rule, they were small men, filled with envy, and 
not overscrupulous in their methods. At the meet- 
ing of the Redstone Association at Cross Creek, 
Virginia, in 1816, he preached his famous "Ser- 
mon on the Law," which proved to be the enter- 
ing wedge of separation between him and the 
Baptists. Such a sermon to-day would not pro- 
duce the same results, for there has been much 
progress in all the churches during the century 
since then, and mainly because of this sermon; but 
then it was like a firebrand, and these enemies 
seized upon it, perverted it, and turned many against 
its author. 

No single sermon ever delivered by this mighty 
preacher had the effect of this one. It was epoch- 
making. Here, for the first time, he drew clearly 
the difference between the law and the gospel, which 
proved in after years an impregnable bulwark in 
his conflicts with religious error. The law was tem- 
porary and local, but the gospel was for all time, 
and universal. The antitype had given way to the 



BEGAN AND GREW 89 

type, and the shadow to the substance. As a sys- 
tem the law had waxed old and passed away. 
Only the ethical, which was necessarily immortal, 
remained. The Patriarchal dispensation was the 
starlight; the Jewish dispensation was the moon- 
light; that of John the Baptist was the twilight; 
and the Christian dispensation, beginning with the 
coronation of the Christ and the descent of the 
Spirit at Pentecost, was the full sunlight. The 
Patriarchs had the bud; the Jews had the blossom; 
the Christian has the matured fruit of divine 
grace. 

a. The Name. In 1823 Mr. 
B t' t ,,S Campbell established the Chris- 

tian Baptist, a monthly journal 
devoted to religious culture. He did not like the 
name given to the journal, but accepted it on the 
suggestion of his father and Walter Scott, as an 
effort at conciliation. These brethren urged that 
since their work was largely among the Baptists, 
to use their name would be pleasing to them, and 
to modify it by the word "Christian" would prevent 
it from being regarded as denominational. 

b. The Prospectus. The prospectus was clear 
and candid: "The Christian Baptist shall espouse 
the cause of no religious sect, except the ancient 
sect called Christians first at Antioch. Its sole 
object shall be the eviction of the truth and the 
exposing of error in doctrine and practice. The 
editor, acknowledging no standard of faith other 
than the Old and New Testaments, and the latter 
as the standard of the religion of Jesus Christ, 



90 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

will, intentionally at least, oppose nothing which it 
contains, and recommend nothing which it does 
not enjoin." The enterprise was pushed with 
vigor. A building was erected near his home, 
presses and type were bought, printers were em- 
ployed, and a regular publishing-house was estab- 
lished, which had a successful history of more than 
forty years. The industry and working capacity 
of the editor are seen in the fact that his preaching 
increased rather than diminished with the advent 
of the paper ; he attended to an immense corre- 
spondence ; supervised the publishing department ; 
and for recreation he directed the work of his fine 
farm on the Buffalo. 

c. The Name "Bethany." It was in connec- 
tion with the publication of this journal that the 
name "Bethany," a name inseparably associated 
with the life and labors of Mr. Campbell, came 
into use. In the beginning, when the circulation 
was small, the paper was carried to West Liberty, 
a little village four miles away, and mailed from 
that point. But the circulation increased rapidly, 
and this plan became so inconvenient and burden- 
some that Mr. Campbell had a post-office estab- 
lished in his home and called it "Bethany," and 
for the next thirty years he was the postmaster. 

d. Influence. The influence of the Christian 
Baptist was remarkable. The brilliant and fear- 
less editor was a sort of free lance, resembling 
Elijah and John the Baptist. Religious circles were 
stirred to the center, and fast friends and furious 
foes gathered about him, and his influence was 



BEGAN AND GREW 91 

multiplied many-fold. Bible reading became the 
order of the day, and, like the Bereans, the people 
searched the Scriptures daily to see if the strange, 
new things he said were true. The characteristic 
atmosphere was no longer stagnation, but agitation. 
There was no such thing as sitting on the fence. 
Neutrality was impossible. Men had to take sides. 
Preachers denounced it and warned their people 
against reading it, but they read it all the more, 
and converts were numerous, and many of them 
were the strongest men of the land; such men as 
P. S. Fall, James Challen and D. S. Burnet. 

e. Raking Fire. The paper kept up a raking 
fire all along the line, but was especially severe at 
certain points. The editor was hard on the profes- 
sional clergy and handled them without gloves. He 
characterized them as "hireling priests/' "textuary 
divines/' our "scrap doctors/' etc. Elijah at Mt. 
Carmel was not more sarcastic. He charged them 
with ignorance, pride, self-seeking, and an anxiety 
to keep the people in darkness so that they might 
lord it over them. He scored them for their clerical 
dress, their sanctimonious speech, their long-faced 
piety, their devotion to party, and their claim to 
a special divine call. He denounced with special 
severity their love of titles: "Reverend," "bishop," 
"doctor" and "father." 

He was severe in his condemnation of the 
tendency to legislate, as seen in many of the conven- 
tions, synods and associations. Such gatherings for 
mutual edification, exhortation and co-operation he 
encouraged, but he opposed their tyranny and law- 



92 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

making proclivities, and urged the churches to guard 
most sacredly their Christ-given liberty. 

Human creeds were handled roughly by him. 
The "Philadelphia Confession'' was popular among 
Baptists, and those who ignored it could have no 
fellowship in their associations. The Redstone 
Association at one time refused to admit fourteen 
congregations because the letters of their messen- 
gers failed to avow allegiance to the "Confession." 
This was at their meeting in 1827, to which Mr. 
Campbell was sent as a corresponding messenger 
from the Mahoning Association. The editor 
denounced them as misnomers, declaring that they 
were not confessions of faith, but of opinions. 

/. Destructive and Constructive. But the 
work of the Christian Baptist was not simply 
destructive, but also constructive. Its editor was 
not an iconoclast. He only destroyed that he might 
build something better. His paper was always 
loaded to the guard with great dissertations on the 
fundamental questions of the religious life; notably 
among these was a series of editorials called "The 
Ancient Order of Things," expounding the apos- 
tolic faith and practice, which attracted wide atten- 
tion, and produced much commendation and con- 
demnation. 

In 1830, after a remarkable 
4. "Millennial £ ,, 

tt b - „ career of seven years, the 

Christian Baptist gave place to 

the Millennial Harbinger, a monthly journal double 

its size, which continued till after the death of Mr. 

Campbell in 1865. No religious paper of that day, 



BEGAN AND GREW 93 

and possibly no one of any day, ever had a greater 
influence in molding thought than did this one dur- 
ing these seven years. 

The great "Sermon on the 
5. Into the Law » was the straw w hi c h broke 

Mahoning Asso- , „ , , _ 

ciation camel s back. The masses 

were carried away with it, and, 
as the leaders could not refute it, they redoubled 
their energies to close the mouth of its author. 
He was tried for heresy, but acquitted. But their 
zeal, worthy of a better cause, was increased rather 
than decreased by defeat. They circulated all 
manner of reports about him, not only involving 
his doctrinal standing, but his moral character also. 
At last, wearied with this continual strife, the 
Brush Run Church withdrew and united with the 
Mahoning Baptist Association of eastern Ohio. 
About this time (August, 1823) Mr. Campbell and 
about thirty others, mainly from Brush Run, or- 
ganized a church at Wellsburg, Virginia, now West 
Virginia, the second congregation in the Restoration 
Movement. The wisdom of this change was mani- 
fest in the fact that the Mahoning Association soon 
wheeled into line with the work of the Campbells. 
a. Eagle in a Storm. Mr. Campbell, like an 
eagle in a storm, only rose the higher and soared 
the more grandly because of the furious winds 
shrieking about him. In his new journal he was 
proving himself as powerful with the pen as he 
was in the pulpit, and the work went forward with 
leaps and bounds. In Kentucky men like "Rac- 
coon" John Smith, P. S. Fall, John T. Johnson, 



94 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

the Creaths, Vardeman, Morton, etc., were his 
magnetic leaders. Vardeman baptized 550 people 
in six months; Smith baptized 339 in six weeks; 
John Secrest baptized 222 in a hundred days; and 
others did as well. 

b. Great Lieutenants. In Ohio, Adamson 
Bentley, Walter Scott, William Hodgen, Joseph 
Gaston, and others, aroused the people from their 
lethargy and rallied them under the new banner. 
Mr. Scott became the evangelist of the Mahoning 
Association in 1827. This Association, organized 
in 1820, consisted of ten Baptist churches (the 
number later was doubled) in eastern Ohio near 
the Pennsylvania line, and between the Ohio River 
and Lake Erie, and was known as the Western 
Reserve. One of them (Wellsburg) was in Vir- 
ginia. It had a choice population, mainly from 
New England. Scott was a remarkable young man, 
thirty years old, and a born evangelist. He was a 
personal friend and ardent admirer of Mr. Camp- 
bell. The churches were spiritually dead. In 1825 
they reported only sixteen conversions. But God 
wrought wonders in them through this new evangel- 
ist. He was a close student of the Bible, and he 
resolved to preach the same gospel preached by the 
Apostles, and to preach it in the same way. He 
would adopt not only their message, but also their 
method. At first he failed. It was so new and 
novel that the people, astounded, would hear, but 
would not obey. But he persevered and God gave 
him the victory. A tidal wave swept through the 
churches and the first year there were one thousand 



BEGAN AND GREW 95 

conversions. And during the next two years, when 
his labors closed, the interest and enthusiasm 
increased, and, like a flood, swept everything before 
it Not only individuals by hundreds and thousands 
were saved, but often entire congregations embraced 
"the ancient order of things/' Baptist churches 
would vote out the "Philadelphia Confession*' and 
substitute the Bible in its place. Presbyterians, 
Lutherans and Episcopalians were also reached in 
large numbers. The Deerfield Methodist Church 
came over as a whole. Mr. Campbell, like a great 
general, kept his eye on the field, and he became 
alarmed lest the burning zeal of his able and ardent 
lieutenant should lead him into error; and he 
sent his father to visit his field of labor to see and 
report the work. From New Lisbon, April 9, 
1828, he wrote as follows: 

"I perceive that theory and practice in religion, 
as in other things, are matters of distinct consid- 
eration. We have spoken and written many things 
correctly concerning the ancient gospel, but I must 
confess that in respect to the direct application of it, 
I am, for the first time, on the ground where the 
thing has appeared to be practically exhibited to 
the proper purpose. Mr. Scott has made a bold 
push to accomplish this object by simply boldly 
stating the ancient gospel, and insisting upon it." 

c. Walter Scott's Signal Honor. This means 
that the Campbells had discovered the panacea for 
the world's sins, but they had not practically applied 
it. And let it be said, for the sake of truth and 
to the glory of Walter Scott, that he was the first 



96 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

man in America, if not in the world, to take the 
field notes of the Apostles, discovered and repub- 
lished by the Campbells, and run and apply the 
original survey, beginning at Jerusalem. 

d. Tidal Wave. And what was true in Ken- 
tucky and Ohio was also true on a smaller scale 
in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Ten- 
nessee and Virginia. The Baptist historian, Bene- 
dict, speaking of the First Baptist Church of 
Nashville, Tennessee, says: "It increased between 
three and four hundred members, when the Camp- 
bellites succeeded in making proselytes to their 
views of nearly the whole of this great and grow- 
ing interest. The pastor and people, with their 
chapel, all were brought under the influence of the 
Reformers." The New York Baptist Register of 
1830 says: "Mr. Campbell's paper, and their vigor- 
ous missionary efforts, are making great achieve- 
ments. It is said that one-half of the Baptist 
churches of Ohio have embraced this sentiment, and 
become what they call Christian Baptists. It is 
spreading like a mighty contagion through the 
Western States, wasting Zion in its progress." An- 
other Baptist, writing to Mr. Campbell in 1828, said 
that in "traveling twenty-five hundred miles I 
found only four regular Baptist preachers whom 
you have not corrupted." 

The opposition to the work 

t>' *• 4. nu„ u did not lessen in its bitterness 
Baptist Church __ 

toward Mr. Campbell personally 

as his influence increased, but it was also turned 

against his converts who came from the churches. 



BEGAN AND GREW 97 

This was especially true of the Baptists. Mr. 
Campbell knew it, and he kept the people posted 
regarding it. Much as he deplored the thought of 
organizing a new religious body, the stubborn facts 
facing him were driving him to the conviction that 
his mission could not be fulfilled within the narrow 
limits of any denomination. He had hoped the 
Baptist churches would return to apostolic prac- 
tice and become the nucleus around which the 
religious world could be rallied, but his hope was 
growing weaker every day. Speaking of the 
probable separation, he said: 

"If there be division, gentlemen, you make it, 
not I; and the more you oppose us with the weight 
of your censure, like the palm-tree, we will grow 
the faster. I am for peace, for union, for har- 
mony, for co-operation with all good men. But I 
fear you not. If you fling firebrands, arrows and 
discord into the army of the faith, you will repent 
it, not me. You will lose influence, not me. We 
covet not persecution, but disregard it. We fear 
nothing but error ; and should you proceed to make 
divisions, you will find that they will reach much 
farther than you are aware, and that the time is past 
when an anathema will produce any other effect 
than contempt from some and a smile from others/' 

And finally when the inevitable came, and he 
and his brethren were forced to leave the Baptist 
fold, he said : "All the world must see that we 
have been forced into a separate communion. We 
were driven out of doors because we preferred the 
approbation of the Lord to the approbation of 

7 



98 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

any sect in Christendom. If this be our weakness, 
we ought not to be despised; if our wisdom, we 
ought not to be condemned. We have lost no 
peace of conscience, none of the honor which comes 
from God, none of the enjoyments of the Holy 
Spirit, nothing of the sweets of Christian com- 
munion, by the unkindness of those who once 
called us brethren. 

" 'More true joy Marcellus exiled feels 
Then Caesar with a Senate at his heels.' 

"We have always sought peace, but not peace 
at war with truth. We are under no necessity 
to crouch, to beg for favor, friendship or protec- 
tion. Our progress is onward, upward and resist- 
less. With the fear of God before our eyes, with 
the example of the renowned worthies of all ages 
to stimulate our exertions, with love to God and 
man working in our bosoms, and immortality in 
prospect, we have nothing to fear, and nothing to 
lose that is worth possessing." 

These are the ringing words of a man who 
believes he has a mission and who is determined, re- 
gardless of the cost, to be true to Him from whom 
he received it. To some they will appear to be 
lacking in the element of human kindness. But it 
should be remembered that Mr. Campbell was a 
young man, that the provocations were great and 
that his enemies had seen to it that the combative 
in him had been fully cultivated. When an old 
man, mellowed and enriched by age and experience, 
his tone was softer and sweeter, and he regretted 
more keenly that the separation ever took place. 



BEGAN AND GREW 99 

The causes of the separation were both doc- 
trinal and practical. Some of the most important 
of the doctrinal causes were these: 

a. Regarding the Proper 
7. Causes of the DlvISI0N 0F THE BlBLE> As 
Separation 

early as 1816, when the "Sermon 

on the Law" was preached, this point was empha- 
sized. Mr. Campbell did not discard the Old 
Testament, as often charged by his enemies, but 
only claimed that "the handwriting of ordinances 
that was against us," which was contrary to us, 
"and which by Christ was taken out of the way, 
nailing it to the cross," was not binding in our 
day. He taught that the Old Testament, as much 
as the New, came from God, but that it was given 
specially to the Jew, and not to the whole world, 
and that it was not a book of authority to the 
Christian, except as its teachings were incorporated 
in the New. Of course its moral principles, like 
their author, were immortal. But the Baptists 
insisted on the equal authority of both books. 
Robert Semple, one of their leaders, said: "I aver 
that the Old and New Testaments are essentially 
the same as to obligation, and stand in the same 
relation to each other and to us as different parts 
of the New Testament do to each other." But Mr. 
Campbell said the difference was like that between 
a State when a Territory, and when later it became 
a State. The Territorial constitution is binding 
only to the extent that it is re-enacted in the consti- 
tution of the State. 

b. Regarding the Design of Baptism. In his 



100 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

debate with Walker in 1820 Mr. Campbell asserted 
that baptism was connected with remission of sins. 
In his debate with McCalla three years later, he 
made the same argument with added emphasis and 
illustrations. But in 1830 he made a distinction 
between the change of heart and the change of 
state. "A change of heart," he said, "though it 
necessarily precedes, is in no sense equivalent to, 
and never to be identified with, a change of state." 
He compared it with the marriage ceremony, which 
is not for the purpose of changing the hearts of 
the contracting parties, but their state or relation- 
ship, and that they are not married, however great 
the change of heart toward each other, until this 
ceremony has taken place. The Baptists called 
this "baptismal regeneration," or "water salvation," 
and rejected it as the baldest and boldest kind of 
heresy. They claimed that baptism was not in 
order to, but because of, remission of sins, and 
therefore it did not precede, but followed, forgive- 
ness of sins. 

c. Regarding Conversion. Baptists were 
strongly Calvinistic, and taught that man, "dead in 
trespasses and in sins" — as dead spiritually as 
Lazarus was physically — required a spiritual mir- 
acle through the direct operation of the Holy Spirit 
in order to spiritual life, just as it required a 
physical miracle to give life to the body of 
Lazarus. Mr. Campbell claimed that his death in 
sin did not destroy his power of choice, otherwise 
he would not be responsible; but that he was con- 
verted or not, not because of some miraculous 



BEGAN AND GREW 101 

power, exerted or withheld, but because of his own 
decision in the matter. 

d. Regarding Creeds. The Baptist believed 
that human creeds were essential to church life, and 
most of them had adopted the "Philadelphia Con- 
fession." Mr. Campbell argued that creeds had 
not one word to justify them in the Bible, and that 
their use had also condemned them. From the 
first they had been the prolific source of division. 
The Apostolic Church, organized and directed by 
inspired men, had no such creed. 

Some of the most serious practical differences 
were these: 

e. Regarding the Administration of Bap- 
tism. Baptists said that only ordained preachers 
had the right to baptize. On the other hand, Mr. 
Campbell taught that since all Christians were 
kings and priests unto God, each one had a right 
to administer the ordinances of the Lord's house. 

/. Regarding the Lord's Supper. The Bap- 
tist custom was to observe this ordinance once a 
quarter or once a month, while Mr. Campbell plead 
for its observance once a week. He showed this 
to have been the practice of the primitive Church 
by both the New Testament and later church his- 
tory. The Baptists practiced "close communion," 
but he taught that each should examine himself, 
and not his brother, "and so let him eat of that 
bread, and drink of that cup" (1 Cor. 11:28). 

g. Regarding the Reception of Members 
into the Church. The Baptists required their 
converts to relate a "Christian experience," either 



102 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

to the officers or to the congregation, and they were 
received or rejected by a vote. If the experience 
indicated a genuine conversion, they were received; 
if not, they were rejected. But Mr. Campbell said 
all who believed with the whole heart in the Christ, 
and confessed him before men, should be baptized 
into the "one body," the Church. 

h. Regarding the Call to the Ministry. 
The Baptists believed that every genuine call to the 
ministry was accompanied by some miraculous 
manifestation akin to the light and voice in Saul's 
conversion and call. Mr. Campbell insisted that 
the cases were not parallel; that Paul was called 
to be an Apostle, and the miraculous was an essen- 
tial in all such cases, but, Apostles not being needed 
now, the miraculous was no longer essential to the 
call. Now, when a consecrated and gifted young 
man, like Timothy, is well reported of by the 
churches, they call him, and set him apart to "the 
ministry of the word." 

These, and kindred points, constantly agitated, 
and often exaggerated, finally did their work, and 
separated a people who ought to have been one. 
No exact day can be named as the time of this sad 
occurrence, for it was gradual in its growth and 
consumed several years in its consummation, but 
the year 1830 is not far from the correct date. 
After this time the followers of Campbell were 
known as "Christian," "Disciples of Christ," or 
"Christian Churches," the legal title usually being 
the "Church of Christ" at such a place. 

During the eighty-four years since the separa- 



BEGAN AND GREW 



103 



tion, Time, God's gracious minister of healing, 
who loves to hide the wounds of war with tender 
grasses and fragrant roses, has done much toward 
healing those old sores, so that in many places the 
two peoples are now nearer together than ever 
before. And it is the hope and prayer of many in 
both communions that the time may soon come 
when these, the two largest immersionist bodies in 
America, may be one. 



104 HOW THE DISCIPLES BEGAN AND GREW 



Questions. 

1. When did the Campbells enter the Baptist 
Church ? 

2. Why did this act produce new enemies and 
new friends? 

3. When were the debates with Walker and 
McCalla? 

4. What lessons were learned from the debates? 

5. What of the "Sermon on the Law"? 

6. What of the Christian Baptist? 

7. How did "Bethany ' get its name ? 

8. What special things did the Christian Bap- 
tist oppose? 

9. What of the Millennial Harbinger? 

10. What of the growth of the cause at this 
time? 

11. What of Walter Scott? 

12. What of Campbell's warnings against divi- 
sion? 

13. State the causes of the separation. 



VI. 
THE STONE MOVEMENT 



105 



OUTLINE— CHAPTER VI. 

1. Early Life. 

a. Birth. 

b. Conversion. 

c. Calvinism. 

2. Early Ministry. 

a. Ordination. 

b. Wonderful Revival. 

3. Later Ministry. 

a. COLABORERS. 

b. Springfield Presbytery. 

c. Breaks with Denominationalism. 

d. Distinguished Honor. 

e. Last Will and Testament. 
/. Trials and Triumphs. 

4. First Meeting of Stone and Campbell. 

a. First Impressions. 

b. Second Impressions. 

5. Forces United. 

a. Preliminary Meetings. 
&. Lexington Meeting. 

c. Messengers to the Churches. 

d. The People Contrasted. 

e. An Important Result. 
/. Beautiful Illustration. 

g. The Younger the Stronger. 
h. Love the Leading Element. 

106 



VI. 

The Stone Movement. 

_ „.„ Alexander Campbell was now 

i. Early Life - - 

forty-two years of age, just en- 
tering the prime of his splendid manhood. The 
''Declaration and Address" was issued in 1809, 
hence he had been twenty-one years developing the 
principles of the mission upon which his Master 
had sent him. Like a great ship, it took time to 
fully loose him from his moorings and swing him 
into the open sea; but he is there now, and ready 
for the voyage. 

As already seen, the spirit of union was by no 
means confined to the Campbells, but it was abroad 
in the land. It was found on both sides of the 
Atlantic, and in the ranks of many of the churches. 
The largest and most influential of the union 
movements was led by Barton W. Stone. 

a. Birth. Mr. Stone was born near Port 
Tobacco, Maryland, December 24, 1772, sixteen 
years before the birth of Alexander Campbell. He 
was the youngest of a large family, and the father 
died while the child was too young to remember 
him. When he was seven years old the mother 
moved to Pittsylvania County, Virginia, near the 
place where this writer was born and reared. Here, 
in full view of the beautiful Blue Ridge Moun- 

107 



108 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

tains, the boy grew to young manhood. The hard- 
ships of pioneer life, intensified by the privations 
incident to the Revolutionary War, were important 
elements in laying the foundation of the strong 
life of Mr. Stone. From the humble home in the 
forest, and only thirty miles away, he could 
hear the guns of General Green and Lord Corn- 
wallis in the battle of Guilford Court-house, North 
Carolina. 

b. Conversion. Mr. Stone, like most thought- 
ful young men of that time, when he would 
become a Christian, had serious trouble with Cal- 
vinistic theology. He was taught that all men were 
totally depraved, unable to think a good thought, 
utter a good word, or do a good deed till God's 
"Spirit by some physical, almighty and mysterious 
power had quickened, enlightened and regenerated 
the heart." "I asked myself, Does God love the 
world — the whole world? And has he not almighty 
power to save? Had I a child whom I greatly 
loved, and saw him at the point of drowning, and 
utterly unable to save himself, and if I were able 
to save him, would not I do it? Would not I con- 
tradict my love to him — my very nature — if I did 
not save him? And will not God save all whom 
he loves?" 

This reasoning drove Mr. Stone into the doc- 
trine of unconditional election and reprobation as 
taught in the "Westminster Confession of Faith," 
and left him almost mad. Speaking of it later, he 
says: "I shudder while I write. Blasphemy rose 
in my heart against such a God, and my tongue 



BEGAN AND GREW 109 

was tempted to utter it. Sweat profusely burst 
from the pores of my body, and the fires of hell 
gat hold of me." 

All this time relief was at his finger-tips, but 
the clouds of speculative theology so blinded him 
that he did not see it. Finally, in desperation, he 
turned to the old Book, and these clouds fled away 
like mists before the sun, and his soul was at 
peace. "From this state of perplexity," he says, "I 
was relieved by the precious word of God. I be- 
came convinced that God did love the whole world, 
and that the reason why he did not save all was 
because of their unbelief; and that the reason why 
they believed not, was not because God did not exert 
his physical, almighty power on them, but because 
they received not the testimony given in his Word 
concerning his Son. I now saw that it was not 
against the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ that I had been tempted to blaspheme, but 
against the character of a God not revealed in 
the Scriptures. ,, 

c. Calvinism. After this outburst of faultless 
logic and righteous indignation, Mr. Stone, in the 
solemnity of the presence of death, expresses his 
convictions concerning this doctrine. "Let me here 
speak when I shall be lying under the clods of the 
grave: Calvinism is among the heaviest clogs in 
Christianity in the world. It is a dark mountain 
between heaven and earth, and is amongst the 
most discouraging hindrances to sinners from 
seeking the Kingdom of God." 



110 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

„ , ,,. . a. Ordination. From this 

2. Early Ministry , r ~ 

moment Mr. btone was a new 

man. The shackles which had fettered him were 
broken, and the scales which had blinded him had 
been removed, and as a free man with clear vision 
he threw himself with ardor into his work. He 
became a candidate for the ministry ; but when asked 
if he accepted the "Westminster Confession of 
Faith," he answered, "As far as consistent with the 
Word of God," thus showing himself in perfect 
harmony with the slogan of the Campbells : "Where 
the Bible speaks, we speak; and where the Bible is 
silent, we are silent." 

b. Wonderful Revival. In 1801, having heard 
of a wonderful revival in southern Kentucky, he 
went down to study the work. There, in Logan 
County, multitudes gathered, and strange things 
transpired. "The scene to me," he says, "was new 
and passing strange. It baffled description. Many, 
very many, fell down as men slain in battle, and con- 
tinued for hours in an apparently breathless and 
motionless state — sometimes for a few moments re- 
viving and exhibiting symptoms of life by a deep 
groan, a piercing shriek, or by a prayer for mercy 
most fervently uttered. After lying there for hours, 
they obtained deliverance. The gloomy cloud which 
covered their faces seemed gradually and visibly 
to disappear, and hope in smiles brightened into 
joy — they would rise, shouting deliverance, and then 
would address the surrounding multitude in lan- 
guage truly eloquent and impressive. My conviction 
was that it was a good work — the work of God." 



BEGAN AND GREW 111 

Mr. Stone returned from these strange and 
stirring scenes fired anew with holy zeal. His 
first sermon at Caneridge was on the words: 
"Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to 
every creature. He that believeth and is baptized 
shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be 
damned. ,, This was the beginning of another 
revival similar to the one he had visited. Experi- 
ences on the part of sinners were equally strange 
and startling. And the people in equal numbers 
came from far and near, and thousands turned to 
God. It looked in some respects like another 
Pentecost. Twenty-five thousand people camped 
on the ground until the food supply failed, and 
would have remained longer could they have been 
fed. Like fire in stubble, the influence of the 
meeting swept abroad until a wide scope of coun- 
try was involved. Doubtless there was fanaticism 
here, but it was not all fanaticism, or good and 
permanent results would not have followed as they 
did. 

T ,,. . , a. Colaborers. Mr. Stone 

3. Later Ministry ~ 

was surrounded by some strong 

colaborers in this work: Richard McNemar, John 

Thompson, John Dunlavy, David Purviance and 

Robert Marshall. Their preaching was in direct 

conflict with the "Confession of Faith." They 

taught that salvation was for all, and that every 

one, without the aid of the miraculous influence 

of the Spirit, could be saved. No wonder this 

preaching wrought wonders, for it was the same 

kind that wrought wonders in the early Church. 



112 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

Neither is it strange that it aroused violent opposi- 
tion, for Satan knew its danger to his Kingdom, 
and he would, if possible, stop it. So, in a short 
time they were tried for heresy in the synods and 
presbyteries for preaching uncalvinistic doctrines. 
McNemar was the first victim, and when they saw 
that he would be excluded from the fold, these 
five men, during a recess of the Synod, retired to 
a garden, and, after prayer and consultation, drew 
up a protest, a declaration of independence, and a 
withdrawal from their jurisdiction, but not from 
their communion. This protest was presented to 
the Synod by the moderator, and it greatly sur- 
prised and enraged that body. 

These brave men retired to the home of a 
friend near by, and were quickly followed by a 
committee from the Synod seeking to reclaim them. 
During the conference with the committee, one of 
its members, Matthew Houston, was converted to 
the righteousness of their cause, and united with 
the protestants. 

When the Synod received the report of this 
committee it solemnly suspended the dissenters 
because they had departed from the doctrine and 
usages of the Church, and had taught a doctrine 
subversive of the "Confession of Faith. " But in 
this second point they were unjust to Stone, for 
he was ordained with the understanding that he 
accepted the "Confession" only so far as it agreed 
with the Bible. 

b. Springfield Presbytery. Immediately these 
brethren formed themselves into an organization 



BEGAN AND GREW 113 

known as the Springfield Presbytery. They sent 
a vigorous letter to their churches, telling them what 
had transpired, and why they had withdrawn from 
the Synod. They also filed their objections to the 
"Confession of Faith," and to all human creeds, 
and their determination to take the Bible, and the 
Bible alone, as their only rule of faith and prac- 
tice. This letter was widely circulated, and it had a 
large influence. 

c. Breaks with Denominationalism. The 
ties of confidence and love, binding Mr. Stone to 
his churches, were tender and strong, and it was 
painful to break them. But he had new light, and 
he must walk in it; and so he told them that he 
could not longer preach Presbyterianism, and that he 
would henceforth labor to spread the Redeemer's 
Kingdom irrespective of denominationalism. He 
released them from all financial obligation, and said 
he would continue to preach among them, but not 
as their pastor. Having already freed his slaves, 
and now having no salary, he worked on his little 
farm to support his family. But he preached inces- 
santly, and great throngs gladly heard him. 

The Springfield Presbytery was an infant of 
a short life. Within a single year these men saw 
their distinctive name savored of party spirit, and 
they threw it overboard and substituted the name 
"Christian." This noble act, which should have 
commended them to all good men, only intensified 
the opposition against them. 

d. Distinguished Honor. In the light of all 
this, it would seem that the distinguished honor of 



114 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

organising the first churches since the great apos- 
tasy, with the Bible as their only rule of faith and 
practice, and zvith "Christian" as the family name, 
belongs to these brave men, and that it occurred in 
Kentucky in 1804, and that Caneridge was the 
first, 

e. Last Will and Testament. Light im- 
proved is always light increased, as the history of 
these men shows. They soon published "The Last 
Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery/' 
one of the most unique productions in religious 
literature. The independent study of the Book was 
not long in causing them to abandon infant baptism 
and affusion. But none of them had been immersed, 
and for a moment they were puzzled as to how to 
overcome this difficulty; but it was only momentary, 
for they soon saw that the authority to preach 
the gospel involved the right to administer its 
ordinances, and so the preachers first baptized 
each other, and then baptized their congregations. 

Let it be remembered that all this occurred five 
years before Thomas Campbell issued the "Declara- 
tion and Address," and eight years before he 
and his illustrious son were immersed. 

/. Trials and Triumphs. For a time every- 
thing went well, and churches sprang up as if by 
magic over a wide territory. But a new fad 
called "Shakerism," a semi-religious socialistic 
movement from New York, was introduced, and it 
made havoc with the faith of many of their new 
converts. Two of the preachers lost their moor- 
ings and went with them, and the day which 



BEGAN AND GREW 115 

dawned with such bright promise seemed destined 
to end in a night of densest darkness. But Mr. 
Stone, by nature as kind and gentle as a woman, 
was also courageous as a lion when courage was 
demanded, and stood manfully by the ship, and 
steered her safely through the storm, and out again 
into the peaceful waters of prosperity. But other 
troubles came, and two more of his preachers de- 
serted him and returned to the original fold. Speak- 
ing of this in after years, he said: "Of the five of us 
who left the Presbyterians, I only was left, and 
they sought my life/^ But God did not desert 
him, and his influence increased greatly, and 
churches were planted in Kentucky, Tennessee and 
Ohio. 

a. First Impressions. In 

4 ' F of S St^e eting 1824 Mr ' St ° ne and Mn Camp " 

and Campbell bel1 firs f met When the y com " 

pared views it seemed that there 

were irreconcilable differences between them. 
Stone thought Campbell heterodox on the Holy 
Spirit, and Campbell suspected Stone's soundness 
on the divinity of Christ. But on a fuller investi- 
gation they found these differences more imaginary 
than real, and they joined hearts and hands, and 
God blessed them with the most important work 
since the apostolic age. If good men would 
always thus deal with their differences, this 
blessed result would become one of the ordinary 
experiences of life. 

b. Second Impressions. Theirs was a case of 
esteem and love on first sight, and this feeling 



116 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

continued to the end of life. Stone, near the end, 
said: "I will not say there are no faults in Bro. 
Campbell, but there are fewer, perhaps, in him 
than any man I know on earth; and over these few 
my love would throw a veil, and hide them forever 
from view. I am constrained, and willingly con- 
strained, to acknowledge him the greatest pro- 
moter of this Reformation of any man living." 
And this feeling was fully reciprocated by Mr. 
Campbell. 

« „ . , a. Preliminary Meetings. 

5. Forces United „ r . - , , , - ,. - 

With the leaders feeling thus to- 
ward each other, the work of union between their 
followers was well on the way when it was begun. 
And so, after a number of friendly conferences, it 
was decided to have a meeting of representative 
men from both sides at Georgetown, Kentucky, to 
continue four days, including Christmas Day of 
1831. The results of this conference were so 
satisfactory that another was convened in Lexing- 
ton on New Year's Day following. The spirit of 
the Master was supreme in these gatherings, and 
the blessings of the Lord rested richly on his 
people. 

b. Lexington Meeting. The Lexington meet- 
ing was held in the old meeting-house of the Stone 
brethren on Hill Street on Saturday. At an early 
hour the house was crowded. Stone and John T. 
Johnson and Samuel Rogers and G. W. Elley and 
Jacob Creath and "Raccoon" John Smith were 
there, with many others worthy of special men- 
tion, but we have not space for their names. The 



BEGAN AND GREW 117 

Lord has them in the heavenly records. It was not 
a convention of elders and preachers, but a great 
mass-meeting of all classes. It was decided that 
one man from each party should speak, setting 
forth clearly the grounds of union, and Stone and 
Smith were selected as the speakers. After a 
private conference it was agreed that Smith should 
make the first address. 

At the appointed hour Smith, realizing the 
tremendous importance of the occasion, arose and 
delivered one of the great speeches of his life. 
The following quotation will give the reader an 
idea of the character of the address. He said: 

"God has but one people on the earth. He has 
given to them but one Book, and therein exhorts 
and commands them to be one family. A union 
such as we plead for — a union of God's people on 
that one Book — must, then, be practicable. Every 
Christian desires to stand in the whole will of God. 
The prayer of the Saviour, and the whole tenor 
of his teaching, clearly show that it is God's will 
that his children should be united. To the Chris- 
tian, then, such a union must be desirable. There- 
fore the only union practicable or desirable must be 
based on the word of God as the only rule of 
faith and practice. 

"There are certain abstruse and speculative mat- 
ters — such as the mode of divine existence, and the 
nature of the atonement — that have for centuries 
been themes of discussion among Christians. These 
questions are as far from being settled now as 
they were in the beginning of the controversy. By 



118 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

a needless and intemperate discussion of them, 
much feeling has been provoked, and divisions 
have been produced. For several years past I 
have tried to speak on such subjects only in the 
words of inspiration, for it can offend no one to 
say about these things just what the Lord himself 
has said. Whatever opinions about these and 
similar subjects I may have reached in the course 
of my investigations, if I never distract the Church 
of God with them, or seek to impose them on my 
brethren, they will never do the world any harm. 
I have the more cheerfully resolved on this course 
because the gospel is a system of facts, commands 
and promises, and no deduction or inference from 
them, however logical or true, forms any part of 
the gospel of Jesus Christ. No heaven is promised 
to those who hold them, and no hell is threatened 
against those who deny them. They do not con- 
stitute, singly or together, any item of the ancient 
and apostolic gospel. While there is but one 
faith, there may be ten thousand opinions; and 
hence, if Christians are ever to be one, they must 
be one in faith, and not in opinion. 

"For several years past I have stood pledged 
to meet the religious world, or any part of it, on 
the ancient gospel and order of things as presented 
in the Book. This is the foundation on which 
Christians once stood, and on it they can, and ought, 
to stand again. From this I can not depart to 
meet any man in the wide world. While, for the 
sake of peace and Christian union, I have long since 
waived the public maintenance of any speculation 



BEGAN AND GREW 119 

I may hold, yet not one gospel fact, commandment, 
or promise, will I surrender for the world. 

"Let us then, brethren, be no longer Camp- 
bellites, or Stoneites, or New Lights, or Old 
Lights, or any other kind of lights, but let us all 
come to the Bible, and the Bible alone, as the 
only Book in the world that can give us all the 
light we need." 

Stone, with his heart filled with love and hope, 
responded in a brief speech. "I will not attempt," he 
said, "to introduce any new topic, but will say a 
few things on the subjects presented by my beloved 
brother. Controversies in the Church sufficiently 
prove that Christians can never be one in their 
speculations upon these mysterious and sublime sub- 
jects, which, while they interest the Christian 
philosopher, can not edify the Church. After we 
had given up all creeds and taken the Bible, and the 
Bible alone, as our rule of faith and practice, we 
met with so much opposition that I was led to 
deliver some speculative discourses upon these sub- 
jects. But I never preached a sermon of that kind 
that really feasted my heart; I always felt a 
barrenness of soul afterwards. I perfectly accord 
with Brother Smith that these speculations should 
never be taken into the pulpit; and when com- 
pelled to speak of them at all, we should do so in 
the words of inspiration. 

"I have not one objection to the ground laid 
down by him as the true Scriptural basis of union 
among the people of God; and I am willing to 
give him, now and here, my hand." 



120 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

And as he spoke these words, he extended his 
hand to Smith, who received it rapturously, and the 
union of these two great bodies was virtually 
accomplished. 

It was then proposed that all who felt willing 
to unite on the principles enunciated should signify 
it by giving to each other the hand of fellowship; 
and at once the audience arose and joyfully joined 
hands. A song was sung, and, amid tears of inex- 
pressible happiness, the union was confirmed. On 
the Lord's Day following they broke the loaf 
together, and around the emblems of the suffering 
Saviour they renewed their pledge of love and 
loyalty in a common cause. 

c. Messengers to the Churches. Smith and 
Rogers were sent among the churches to carry the 
glad tidings of the union, and to direct and confirm 
them in their new relations. 

d. The People Contrasted. Dr. Richardson's 
wise words contrasting the two parties to this union 
are in point here. "While the features of this 
organization — the Stone wing — were thus, in a 
good measure, similar to those of the reformation 
in which Mr. Campbell was engaged, there were 
some characteristic differences. With the former, 
the idea of uniting all men under Christ was prom- 
inent; with the latter, the desire of an exact con- 
formity to the primitive faith and practice. The 
one occupied itself chiefly with casting abroad the 
sweep-net of the gospel, which gathers fishes of 
every kind; the other was intent on collecting 'the 
good into the vessels' and casting 'the bad away/ 



BEGAN AND GREW 121 

Hence the former engaged mainly in preaching, the 
latter in teaching. And thus they supplemented 
each other. Where one was strong, the other was 
weak. One appealed mainly to the head, the other 
to the heart. In one the protracted meeting 'was 
prominent/ and converts were multiplied; in the 
other the mists and clouds of theological specula- 
tion were dissipated, and the Church of the apos- 
tolic days was being brought back into view. In 
a word, one was gathering fuel and the other fire, 
and when the two were properly adjusted, the 
world was stirred as it has not been since the days 
of primitive Christianity." 

e. An Important Result. W. T. Moore calls 
attention to an important result of the union which 
should not be overlooked: "From the Campbellian 
point of view this union had its drawbacks. At 
the time it was consummated the 'Reformers' were 
practically sweeping everything before them in the 
Baptist churches of Kentucky, Ohio and other 
places where the 'Christians' had attained consider- 
able influence. But the union seriously affected 
the trend of the Baptist churches toward the 
Reformatory movement. Many of those who had 
sympathized with the Reformation utterly refused 
to become associated with a movement which had 
coalesced with Unitarians and pedobaptists." This 
charge was false, but it had the semblance of truth, 
and for a time it did much injury. 

/. Beautiful Illustration. J. H. Garrison 
beautifully ilustrates the union of these people. 
He says: "As two streams having independent 



122 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

sources in the high mountain ranges, in flowing 
toward the sea, by the lav/ of gravitation often 
meet and mingle their waters in one river, so these 
two independent religious movements — the one 
organized by the Campbells, the other by Barton 
W. Stone — having the same general aim, the unity 
of God's children, naturally flowed together under 
the law of spiritual gravitation, when unhindered 
by sectarian aims, forming a mighty stream of 
reformatory influence, whose effect has been felt 
in every part of the Church universal." 

g. The Younger the Stronger. In this case, 
as with the Campbells, the younger was the 
stronger. The son, so far as the later and larger 
history of their work, rather than the father, gave 
it form and direction. The Missouri River, though 
longer than the Mississippi, is a tributary of the 
latter. And so the Stone movement, though several 
years older in its organic form than that of the 
Campbells, is generally regarded a tributary and not 
the main stream, in this onflowing and world- 
blessing spiritual current. This is because all 
the vital and permanent in the teachings of Stone, 
and much more, were found in the teachings of 
Campbell. That this may be seen, it is only neces- 
sary to enumerate the leading principles which 
have given the Restoration Movement its place 
and power in the world. These are briefly as 
follows : 

(1) The plea for Christian union; 

(2) The exaltation of the Bible as the only rule 
of faith and practice; 



BEGAN AND GREW 123 

(3) The restoration of the ordinances to their 
original place and meaning; 

(4) The emphasis of human responsibility in 
things spiritual; 

(5) The exaltation of the Christ as the creed 
and foundation of the Church, and the supreme 
authority in Christianity. 

h. Love the Leading Element. One final 
word of much importance remains to be said con- 
cerning this union; viz., love was the leading ele- 
ment in this glorious consummation. The people 
first became acquainted with each other; this 
acquaintance ripened into friendship, and this 
friendship into love. No amount of argument and 
information and exhortation, in the absence of love, 
could have wrought such results. Pieces of steel 
thrown together will touch each other, but they 
will not unite; but melt them and they become one 
common whole. 



124 HOW THE DISCIPLES BEGAN AND GREW 



Questions. 

1. What of the early life of Barton W. Stone? 

2. What of his early religious experience? 

3. How far did he accept the "Confession of 
Faith"? 

4. What of his early revivalistic experience? 

5. Tell of his five colaborers. 

6. What of their trouble with the Synod? 

7. Tell of the new Synod — its birth and death. 

8. What of the first churches modeled after 
the New Testament Church? 

9. Tell of the trouble with Shakerism. 

10. Tell of the first meeting of Stone and Camp- 
bell. 

11. Describe the union of the two peoples. 

12. What were some of the differences between 
them? 

13. Give Garrison's illustration. 

14. Why is the Stone movement regarded a 
tributary, and not the main stream? 

15. What of the power of love? 



VII. 

THE WORK BROADENING 
AND DEEPENING 



125 



OUTLINE— CHAPTER VII. 

1. Christian Union Tested. 

a. Principle Involved. 

b. Test Applied. 

c. Result Obtained. 

2. Faith and Opinion. 

a. Campbell's Views. 

b. Stone's Views. 

c. Errett's Views. 

3. Phenomenal Success. 

a. Clearer Light. 

b. Better Organization. 

c. Change Wanted. 

d. Menu Appetizing. 

e. Worthy Men. 

/. Natural Results. 

4. Alexander Campbell's Labors. 

a. Change in Public Sentiment. 

b. Preaches to Congress. 

c. Visits the Old World. 

d. Returns Home. 



12G 



VII. 
The Work Broadening and Deepening. 

a. The Principle Involved. 

.!'. r lf l * n . Theories, however beautiful and 
Union Tested . . t i . . 

promising, are worthless if not 

workable. The Patent Office is full of patents with 
faultless models, but they will not work. In this 
practical age men have a merciless way of testing 
such things. If they can show good results, they 
adopt them; if not, they cast them aside. The 
Campbells had for years been preaching a theory 
of Christian union, and good men were interested, 
but, like Thomas, they had their doubts as to 
whether it would work. "Where the Bible speaks, 
we speak; where the Bible is silent, we are silent," 
looked good to those who believed the Bible, but 
many thought as a theory it would not stand the 
test. And when the forces of Stone and Campbell 
united, they hoped against hope, fearing that the 
glittering scheme, like a rope of sand, would go 
to pieces. But they did not have long to wait for 
just the test they desired. It was found in the 
case of Aylett Raines, a Restorationist preacher of 
Ohio, and a fine young man. 

b. The Test Applied. He and Walter Scott 
were operating in the Western Reserve at the same 
time, but they had never met. Scott was turning 

127 



128 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

the "world upside down," and Raines felt it his 
duty, as the leader of the Restorationists, to counter- 
act his influence, and he attended one of his meet- 
ings that he might know at first-hand the teachings 
of the great evangelist. Scott always gave his 
hearers a chance to be heard, and Raines, fond of 
controversy, went there for that purpose. But 
the sermon so impressed him that he had no desire 
to criticize. He continued to hear, and he was 
more and more impressed, until finally he decided 
that Scott was right and he was wrong. But 
there was so much at stake that he took time to 
consider well before acting. He prayed to God 
for guidance, and counseled with his brethren. He 
had a preaching tour of several weeks, and he 
decided to fill his engagements and present his 
new views in order that he might see what others 
thought of them. He was freely criticized, but it 
only confirmed him in his convictions. At the 
end of the tour he spent four days in conference 
with one of his preaching brethren — E. Williams — 
a man of influence, and, as a result, he was con- 
verted and they baptized each other, and at once 
entered heartily into the work with Scott. In a 
few weeks Raines immersed fifty people, inclu- 
ding three of his preaching brethren. Soon he had 
the privilege of several days' conference with Thom- 
as Campbell, and his new faith was greatly 
strengthened. 

Scott's first year as evangelist for the Mahoning 
Association was drawing to a close, and God had 
crowned his labors with a thousand conversions, 



BEGAN AND GREW 129 

and had enabled him to establish the principles of 
the Restoration Movement throughout the Associa- 
tion. The annual meeting at Warren, Ohio, was 
an unusually large one. Three facts contributed 
to this result: (1) The splendid report of the 
evangelist; (2) Alexander Campbell preached the 
opening sermon; (3) the case of Aylett Raines 
was considered. It was generally understood that 
Raines still, in a large measure, retained his old 
views on restoration, and many thought he should 
renounce them, or be denied a place in the Asso- 
ciation. Mr. Campbell was aware of this, and 
his sermon was shaped accordingly. The text was 
Rom. 14 : 1 : "Him that is weak in the faith receive 
ye, but not to doubtful disputations ;" or, as ren- 
dered in the new version, "without regard to dif- 
ferences of opinion. " The sermon was worthy of 
the great preacher and the great occasion, for it 
developed clearly a fundamental principle in the 
union question: the difference between faith and 
opinion. 

The next day the case came up for considera- 
tion, and the venerable and beloved Thomas 
Campbell was the first to speak. He regretted that 
such questions should be brought before the Asso- 
ciation, for they would produce discord among 
brethren. He said that Raines was a Restoration- 
ist and he was a Calvinist, "but, notwithstanding 
this difference of opinion, I would put my right 
hand into the fire and have it burnt off before 
I would hold it up against him." 

c. The Result Obtained. Alexander Camp- 



130 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

bell followed with an address which cleared away 
the confusion, and led to a satisfactory solution of 
the matter. He made the difference between faith 
and opinion so clear that all saw it, and he showed 
that Raines' views were a question of opinion, 
because there was no testimony in the Book on the 
subject, and therefore it could not be a matter of 
faith. He suggested that Mr. Raines promise his 
brethren to preach the gospel as the Apostles 
preached it, and retain his opinions as private prop- 
erty, prophesying that if he would do so, these 
opinions would vanish, and he would soon, like 
Paul, be preaching nothing but Christ and him 
crucified. Mr. Scott heartily commended Mr. 
Campbell's advice. Mr. Raines gladly made the 
promise, and the Association by vote retained him 
in her fellowship. Thus the question of opinions 
as a test of fellowship — one always fraught with 
evil if not wisely handled— was settled, unity was 
preserved, and the church was saved from a sore 
calamity. 

a. Campbell's Views. This 

j ~ a ! . incident shows that Mr. Camp- 

and Opinion . „ , f f , ., * 

bell understood thoroughly the 

question of Christian union. Mr. Raines, it was 
true, held some peculiar views, but since all men 
hold such views on that, or some other questions, 
he was not peculiar after all. His faith, his life, 
his love, and his loyalty were right, and he should 
be fully fellowshiped in spite of any views he 
might hold. Unity in faith and diversity in opin- 
ion was the only possible road to union. 



BEGAN AND GREW 13! 

Years later, in his debate with N. L. Rice, Mr. 
Campbell said: "We long since learned the .les- 
son to draw a well-defined boundary between faith 
and opinion, and, while we earnestly contend for 
the faith, to allow perfect freedom of opinion; and 
of the expression of the opinion, as the true 
philosophy of church union and the sovereign 
antidote against heresy. Hence in our communion 
at this moment we have as strong Calvinists and 
as strong Arminians, I presume, as any in this 
house — certainly many that have been such. Yet 
we go hand in hand in one faith, one hope, and in 
all Christian union and co-operation in the great 
cause of personal sanctification and human redemp- 
tion. It is not our object to make men think alike 
on a thousand themes. Let them think as they like 
on any matters of human opinion, and upon 'doc- 
trines of religion/ provided only they hold the 
Head Christ and keep his commandments. I have 
learned not only the theory, but the fact, that if 
you want opinions to cease or subside, you must 
not debate everything that men think and say. 
You may debate anything into consequence, or 
you may, by a dignified silence, waste it into ob- 
livion, 

"The great cardinal principles upon which the 
Kingdom rests are made intelligible to all, and every 
one who sincerely believes these and is baptized is, 
without any other instrument, creed, covenant or 
bond, entitled to the rank and immunities of the 
city of God, the spiritual Jerusalem, the residence 
of the King. It embraces all that believe in Jesus 



132 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

as the Christ, of all nations, sects and parties, 
and makes them all one in Christ Jesus/' 

b. Stone's Views. Barton W. Stone is equal- 
ly clear. Speaking of the union consummated at 
Lexington, he says: 

"It may be asked, Is there no difference among 
you? We answer we do not know, nor are we 
concerned to know. We have never asked them 
what was their opinion, nor have they asked us. 
If they have opinions different from ours, they are 
welcome to them, provided they do not endeavor 
to impose them on us as articles of faith. They say 
the same of us. 

"It may be asked, Have you no creed or con- 
fession as a common bond of union? We answer, 
Yes. We have a perfect one delivered to us from 
Heaven, and confirmed by Jesus and his Apostles 
— we mean the New Testament. We have learned 
from the earliest history of the Church to the pres- 
ent time that the adoption of man-made creeds 
has been the invariable cause of division. We 
have therefore rejected all such creeds as bonds of 
union, and have determined to rest on that alone 
given by divine authority, being well assured that it 
will bind together all who live in the spirit of it." 

Never since the apostolic age had the very 
heart of the union question been more clearly 
presented, and never, even in that age, did men 
have a better appreciation of it. It was to be in 
faith, not in opinions; and it was to deal with 
fundamentals, and not incidentals. In dealing with 
this mighty problem these men saw that it was 



BEGAN AND GREW 133 

just as important to ignore the unimportant as it 
was to emphasize the important. 

c. Errett's Views. Isaac Errett, one of our 
later leaders, and one of our most representative 
men, says: "With us the divinity and Christhood 
of Jesus is more than a mere item of doctrine — it 
is the central truth of the Christian system, and 
in an important sense the creed of Christianity. It 
is the one fundamental truth which we are jealous- 
ly careful to guard against all compromise. If 
men are right about Christ, Christ will bring them 
right about everything else. We therefore preach 
Jesus Christ and him crucified. We demand no other 
faith, in order to baptism and church membership, 
than the faith of the heart that Jesus is the Christ, 
the Son of the living God; nor have we any term 
or bond of fellowship but faith in this divine 
Redeemer and obedience to him. All who trust 
in the Son of God and obey him are our brethren, 
however wrong they may be about anything else; 
and those who do not trust in the divine Saviour 
for salvation, and obey his commandments, are 
not our brethren, however intelligent and excellent 
they may be in all beside. ... In judgments mere- 
ly inferential, we reach conclusions as nearly 
unanimous as we can; and where we fail, exercise 
forbearance, in the confidence that God will lead 
us into final agreement. In matters of opinion — 
that is, matters touching which the Bible is either 
silent, or so obscure as not to admit of definite 
conclusions — we allow the largest liberty, so long as 
none judges his brother, or insists on forcing his 



134 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

opinions on others, or on making them an occa- 
sion of strife/' 

The numerical success begin- 
3. cnome a ^. a ^ out ^ s t j me an j con tinu- 

Success & 

ing to the present is phenomenal, 

and the cause or causes of it have been much dis- 
cussed by the religious world. But these causes 
are not far to seek, for they are philosophical, fun- 
damental, and easy of comprehension. Some of 
them were: 

a. Clearer Light. The light zvas becoming 
clearer to the workers. Up to this time they had 
been threading their way through a dense, dark 
forest of difficulties, and their vision was not clear. 
Men walk timidly when they do not see clearly. 

b. Better Organization. Their forces were 
being organized. The reason why a handful of 
police is more than a match for a large mob is 
that one is organized and the other is not. 

c. Change Wanted. The masses wanted a 
change. Most of their teachers were mystical, 
theoretical and speculative — a poor pabulum for 
hungry souls. Hunger is the best appetizer. No 
cook, however good, and no viands, however deli- 
cious, are appreciated by the man without an 
appetite. 

d. Menu Appetizing. The menu was appetiz- 
ing, and it zvas what the people needed. (1) They 
gave them a new view of the Bible. It was no 
longer a heterogeneous mass of spiritual truth, 
jumbled together without system, but an orderly 
revelation worthy of its Author. The God of the 



BEGAN AND GREW 135 

stars was the God of the Bible, and the former 
were not more systematic in their movements than 
was the latter in its arrangement. (2) They made 
clear the distinction between the Old Testament 
and the New. One was specially for the Jew, 
and the other was for all men; one was temporary, 
the other permanent; one told about Mt. Sinai and 
Moses, the other about Calvary and the Christ. 
(3) They exalted the Book above all man-made 
creeds as the one all-sufficient and the alone-suf- 
ficient rule of faith and practice for the children 
of God. (4) They showed the sinfulness of divi- 
sion, and the way to union in the Christ and his 
Word. (5) They emphasized the difference 
between faith and opinion, and showed how we 
could be one in the former, though varied as the 
leaves of the forest in the latter. (6) They 
showed that the doctrine of election — the dominant 
doctrine of the day — had reference to character, 
and not to individuals. (7) They placed special 
stress on the human side of salvation, and showed 
that, while it was free to all, it was forced upon 
none. (8) They showed that the Holy Spirit in 
conversion operated through the gospel, and in 
harmony with the laws of our mental nature. (9) 
They strove to reproduce the New Testament 
Church in its name, its creed, its life and its 
ordinances. (10) And last and best, they re-en- 
throned the Christ as the central thought in Chris- 
tianity, and made it clear that a personal Saviour 
for a personal sinner, and not a system of doc- 
trines, was the proper object of faith. 



136 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

e. Worthy Men. The men were worthy of 
the message. In spiritual as in material warfare, 
the man behind the gun is an all-important fac- 
tor. The gun may be the best, but it can not do 
its best without a real hero to handle it. The 
message from the Lord needs manly men to deliver 
it. The sun shining through colored windows car- 
ries with it every tint in the glass. The careful 
reader can detect the personal characteristics of 
Paul, Peter, James, John, and other authors, in 
their writings. And these were grand men, worthy 
successors of their apostolic ancestors. Not many 
of them were college men, but they were richly 
endowed with the rugged common sense char- 
acteristic of pioneers. They possessed in a large 
measure the four elements of true manhood: 
brains, conviction, courage and consecration. They 
knew the gospel, they believed it, they loved it, 
and they were always ready to live or die for it 
according to the command of the Master. They 
believed in the old Book, and its voice was an end 
of controversy. They sacrificed home, friends, 
pleasure — everything — and, without money and 
without price, they answered the Macedonian cry 
and carried its message wherever it was possible 
for them to go. How I wish I could call in full 
the names of these old worthies. But here are a 
few of them: Smith, Gano, Allen, Challen, Burnet, 
Church, Bullard, Shelburne, Creath, Rogers, Cole- 
man, Fall, Bentley, Gaston, Henry, Hayden, 
O'Kane, Goodwin, Houshour, Mathes, Franklin, 
Richardson, Pendleton, Hopson, Lard, McGarvey, 



BEGAN AND GREW 137 

Milligan, Errett. Many others could be mentioned, 
for their name is "legion," but we have not the 
space. But their names are in the Lamb's Book of 
Life, and the Lord has already welcomed them into 
their glorious reward. 

/. Natural Results. With such men as these 
making such a plea as they made, great growth was 
the natural result. They appealed to the practical 
common sense of the common people, and they 
heard them gladly. They did not always agree 
with them, but they understood them, which is a 
rich compliment to any preacher. Their message 
was a new one, and it brought relief to thousands 
of despondent and almost despairing souls who had 
long been struggling in the mists and fogs of the 
theology of the day. It scattered this mist and 
fog like the sun scatters the fogs of the morning, 
and makes the earth all the brighter because they 
once enveloped it in their damp, chilly folds. 

And this evangelistic fervor continues till this 
day. Never in our history have there been so 
many large ingatherings by our evangelists as at 
this time. And while it is true, perhaps, that at 
times too much stress is laid upon mere numbers, 
this is exceptional and not the rule. Neither is the 
work done by the evangelists only, but also by 
the local preacher. Most of his sermons, especial- 
ly those at the evening service, are closed with a 
fervent appeal to the unconverted to accept the 
Christ as the Saviour, and great numbers are thus 
saved. In the mid-week prayer-meeting and Sun- 
day school this appeal is often made and accepted. 



138 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

This feature of our work has had much to do 
in the rapid growth of a hundred years, which 
makes us rank fifth among the Protestant bodies 
of America. 

a. Change in Public Sen- 
4. Alexander TIME nt. Mr. Campbell, while 

L b not an evan S e hst m the strict 

sense of the term, was telling the 
good tidings to a large and constantly increasing 
audience on both sides of the Atlantic. With his pen 
in the Christian Baptist, Millennial Harbinger, and 
in his numerous books, notably "The Christian Sys- 
tem/' and in his sermons heard by enthusiastic audi- 
ences everywhere, and through his debates, he was 
reaching the masses and molding thought to a 
remarkable degree. He made many long tours 
through every section of the country, and was 
received everywhere with open arms and warm 
words of welcome. A great change had taken place 
since the beginning of his work, when he stood 
almost alone as the representative of an unpopular 
cause. The newspapers lent him their influence, 
and rulers and lawmakers bade him welcome. He 
was at last being recognized in a manner commen- 
surate with his worth. 

b. Preaches to Congress. On June 2, 1850, 
at the invitation of both Houses of Congress, he 
delivered an address in the Capitol. Perhaps no 
such a scene was ever witnessed there before or 
since. The hall of the Lower House was filled 
to overflowing, the meeting was opened with sing- 
ing and prayer, and the speaker took his text from 



BEGAN AND GREW 139 

John 3:16, 17, from which he showed the great- 
ness of God's love as contrasted with the friend- 
ship and love of man. The distinguished audi- 
ence for an hour and a half heard him with marked 
attention. He was also received with great respect 
in New York, and other important centers. Wher- 
ever he went — East or West, North or South, in 
the United States or in Canada — the people hailed 
him with delight. 

c. Visits Old World. The long-cherished 
dream of revisiting the old country, and thus 
extending his plea for New Testament Christian- 
ity, was about to be realized. Pressing invitations 
from the churches there convinced him that the 
time was ripe for his going. Accordingly, on May 
4, 1847, he sailed from New York on board the 
"Siddons," a sailing-vessel, which he preferred to 
a steamer, in order that he might have a longer 
time at sea. After a pleasant voyage of twenty- 
five days he landed in Liverpool. Here he was 
met by Mr. J. Davies, of Mollington, who had 
been active in introducing Mr. Campbell's writings 
in England. He visited Chester, and preached to 
large audiences. His sermons were well received. 
He also delivered two sermons in the church build- 
ing formerly occupied by Matthew Henry, the 
commentator, but then owned by the Unitarians. 
On June 7 and 8 he delivered addresses in Concert 
Hall, Liverpool, which had been built by the 
Owenites for the promotion of infidelity, but was 
now used in the service of Christianity. On June 
22 he visited Leicester, where he spoke to large 



140 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

audiences, and visited the famous ancient abbey 
to which Wolsey retired to die in 1530. The city 
was interesting also because it was the home of 
Carey, the famous missionary, and that of Robert 
Hall, who occupied his pulpit for eighteen years. 
He was shown here the guard-house, still standing 
on the wall, where Bunyan, as a soldier under 
Cromwell, served his country. He next visited 
London, where he spoke several times. Here, on 
July 9, he addressed the skeptics in their hall on 
the question, "Has God ever spoken to man?" 
for which they gave him a vote of thanks. 

Leaving London, he made a brief visit to Paris. 
The magnificence of the city astonished him. The 
Louvre and Tuileries were beautiful beyond descrip- 
tion. The twenty-one elegant bridges spanning the 
Seine were much admired. The splendid architec- 
ture of the churches was impressive, but not so the 
worship of one he visited. "While gazing on all 
the grandeur above and around me," he says, "I 
saw the priest standing before the altar with his 
back to a half a dozen devotees kneeling in differ- 
ent parts of the church, performing various genu- 
flections and grimaces. A large cross was in- 
wrought on his coat, after the manner of Indian 
beads, so that while his back was to the people, 
a gorgeous cross from head to heel was visible. 
What a splendid device ! How easy to carry such 
a rich and beautiful cross, kneeling on a velvet 
cushion under a golden canopy, with a few august 
worshipers in his rear ! What a commentary on the 
words, 'Take up your cross and follow me,' I 



BEGAN AND GREW 141 

turned away from this disgusting mummery and 
left the Cathedral." 

Returning to England, he visited a number of 
places, and then, just thirty-eight years after his 
departure, he returned to Scotland. Many brethren 
from various parts of Scotland met him in Edin- 
burgh to welcome him, and to hear him preach. 
While in Scotland his views on the question of 
slavery were misrepresented by bad men, and he 
was put in prison. But, as is usual in such cases, 
the persecution proved a boomerang, and came 
back in force on the head of the persecutor. Mr. 
Campbell was annoyed, and delayed a few days, 
but Rev. James Robertson, who aimed to injure 
him, had to flee the country. 

After a pleasant and profitable sojourn in 
Scotland, Mr. Campbell entered Ireland, the land 
of his birth, on September 17, stopping at Belfast. 
Preaching at a number of places, he came to 
Rich Hill, where he preached. Speaking of his 
experiences about the childhood home, he says: 
"Mr. Greer [his traveling companion] spent the 
whole of that day, the 23d, in carrying me in his 
carriage over the grounds around my father's 
farm and residence, the old stone meeting-house 
and the surrounding residences of prominent mem- 
bers of the congregation. But more than forty 
years had carried them all away, except a few 
members of their families, who still reside on their 
patrimonial inheritances, of which Mr. Greer him- 
self was one, occupying the same house in which 
his father died fifty years ago. We had the sexton 



142 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

open the meeting-house, some sixty feet by forty, 
and, with many a melancholy though somewhat 
pleasing reminiscence, I surveyed the pews, saying 
to myself, 'Here sat such a one, and there sat such 
a one; and where sit they now?' The pulpit and 
doors were new modified; all else was in statu quo 
as it was when I heard my father in April, 1807, 
deliver his farewell sermon to a large and weep- 
ing concourse. ,, 

d. Returns Home. Returning to England, he 
attended the annual meeting of the English breth- 
ren at Chester, and filled some other engagements, 
when he sailed for home on the steamer "Cambria," 
and reached Boston on October 19, wearied with 
his long and arduous trip, but comforted in the 
thought that much good had been accomplished. 



BEGAN AND GREW 143 



Questions. 

1. What was the feeling of many in regard 
to the theory of Christian union? 

2. How was the theory tested in the case of 
Aylett Raines? 

3. Give Campbell's position on faith and 
opinion. 

4. Give Stone's position on the same subject. 

5. Give Errett's position on the subject. 

6. Name the causes of the success at this 
time. 

7. What were Mr. Campbell's three main 
agencies for spreading the gospel? 

8. Tell of his visit to Europe. 



VIII. 
THREE GREAT DEBATES 



10 145 



OUTLINE— CHAPTER VIII. 

1. Debate with Owen. 

a. Changed Conditions. 

b. Clearing the Deck. 

c. A Telling Anecdote. 

d. Great Occasion. 

e. Twelve-hour Speech. 

/. Verdict of the Audience. 
g. Debate a Success. 

2. Debate with Purcell. 

a. Not Catholic. 

b. Human Foundation. 

c. Unstable. 

d. Evil of Prophecy. 

e. Immoral Tendency. 
/. False Claim. 

g. Anti-American. 
h. Campbell's Courage. 
i. Battle of Giants. 
;. Verdict of Audience. 
k. Thrilling Incident. 

3. Debate with Rice. 

a. Men Contrasted. 

b. Campbell's Mind. 

c. Comment Desired. 

d. Debate a Success. 



146 



VIII. 

Three Great Debates. 

Controversy was unavoidable in the life of 
Alexander Campbell. Popular error can not be 
pulled down and unpopular truth exalted in its 
place without controversy. This is true in all the 
realms of life — in nature, in religion, in science, 
in literature and in politics; and yet many men are 
opposed to it in the realm of religion. These men 
seem to forget that Elijah, in restoring the law, was 
a controversialist; that John the Baptist, in prepar- 
ing the way of the Lord, was a controversialist; 
that Christ, in establishing Christianity, was a 
controversialist; that Paul, the greatest product of 
Christianity and the chief defender of the early 
Church, was a controversialist; that Luther, Calvin 
and Knox were controversialists. Whether con- 
troversy is right or wrong depends on the purpose 
and spirit with which it is conducted. When the 
controversialist knows that he knows all the truth, 
and seeks to triumph over an opponent much as 
the Indian gloats over the scalp of a white man, 
it is altogether wrong. But when conscious of 
the fact that he does not know it all, and in con- 
troversy, properly conducted, he seeks for more light, 
it is altogether right. Mr. Campbell was an ideal 
controversialist. He sought truth for truth's sake, 

147 



148 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

and not for the sake of personal glory. He 
moved upon a loftier plane than this. Had he 
resorted to the common subterfuges often used by 
small men, he would have made a botch of it — he 
was too large for that kind of thing — but as he 
conducted it, it was wonderfully productive of 
good. We desire, therefore, that the reader shall 
see him in three of his greatest debates. 

a. Changed Conditions. 
I - De ^ e e n with Up to this time (1829) Mr. 
Campbell, in his discussions, had 
been defending Christianity in the house of its 
friends, but now he meets its open enemies. In- 
fidelity, like a flood, was pouring into the United 
States. David Dale's success at New Lanark Mills, 
Scotland; Faurier's theories of communism in 
France; and the "Social System" of Robert Owen, 
son-in-law of Mr. Dale, were making inroads among 
the people. Advocates of these views in large 
numbers were coming to America, and they were 
active and aggressive. They established them- 
selves at Kendall, Ohio; New Harmony, Indiana, 
and some other places, and boldly taught that 
Christianity was a barrier to progress, and should 
be shoved out of the way. A paper, ably edited, 
was established to advocate these views. 

b. Clearing the Deck. As soon as Mr. Camp- 
bell saw this he ran up the banner of Christ to the 
masthead and cleared the deck for battle. He 
published in the Christian Baptist a series of strong 
articles on "Robert Owen and the Social System," 
and "Deism and the Social System," and they 



BEGAN AND GREW 149 

accomplished the desired results. In February, 
1828, he was asked if he would meet Dr. Under- 
hill in debate. He replied that he was always 
ready to defend his Master, but that he preferred 
not to meet a subordinate of Mr. Owen, but 
that gentleman himself. He would measure arms 
only with the king; and, as Mr. Owen was not 
averse, he did not have long to wait. Mr. 
Owen had been boldly flaunting his challenge in 
the face of the clergy for some time, but no one 
accepted it; but the moment it was seen by Mr. 
Campbell he accepted it, forwarding his accept- 
ance to New Orleans, where Mr. Owen was lec- 
turing. 

c. A Telling Anecdote. Just before the 
debate Mr. Owen visited Mr. Campbell at Bethany 
to arrange for the discussion, and one evening 
when the two were strolling together over the 
farm they came to the family burying-ground, and 
Mr. Owen paused and said, "There is one advan- 
tage I have over the Christian — I am not afraid to 
die; and if some few items of my business were 
settled, I would be perfectly willing to die at any 
moment." Mr. Campbell replied, "You say you 
have no fear in death; have you any hope in 
death?" After a solemn pause, Mr. Owen an- 
swered, "No." "Then," continued Mr. Campbell, 
pointing to an ox standing in the shade, whisking 
off the flies, "you are on the level with that brute. 
He has fed till he is satisfied, and there he stands 
in the shade, and has neither fear nor hope in 
death." Mr. Owen, unable to meet this simple 



150 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

but crushing reply, blushed in confusion and made 
no attempt to meet it. 

d. A Great Occasion. The debate took place 
in Cincinnati, Ohio, April 13-21, 1829, and it was 
a great occasion. Mr. Campbell was the acknowl- 
edged champion of the Christian faith, and Mr. 
Owen was no less distinguished as its foe; and 
the issue involved being the one great question of 
the world, it was one of the truly remarkable and 
important events in religious history. 

e. Twelve-hour Speech. Mr. Campbell being 
a philosopher, and realizing the importance of 
thorough work, gave to his defense of Christianity 
the widest possible range. On the fifth day Mr. 
Owen completed the reading of his manuscript, and, 
finding himself unable to follow his opponent in 
his broad generalizations and masterly summaries, 
he requested him to proceed without interruption 
to the close of his argument. Then followed a 
speech of twelve hours, "which," says Richardson, 
"for cogency of argument, comprehensive reach of 
thought and eloquence, has never been surpassed, 
if ever equaled." And when it closed, a thoughtful 
hearer, not in sympathy with Mr. Campbell, 
expressed the feelings of himself and most of the 
audience when he said, "I have been listening to 
a man who seems as one who had been living in 
all ages." 

/. Verdict of the Audience. Mr. Campbell, 
at the close, anxious that those who did not hear 
the debate should know the sentiment of those who 
did, asked all who believed in the Christian relig- 



BEGAN AND GREW 151* 

ion to rise, when it seemed that every one rose. 
He then put the other side of the question, and 
three stood. Mr. Owen pleasantly remarked that 
''it made him happy to see others happy." 

g. Debate a Success. The debate was a suc- 
cess in that it checked the rising tide of infidelity, 
and encouraged the friends of the Christ. It also 
greatly helped Mr. Campbell in his work by plac- 
ing the religious world, both Protestant and Cath- 
olic, under lasting obligations to him, and by giving 
to him the prestige and power that come to a 
victorious leader in a crucial hour. It was pub- 
lished, and had a large sale; and it remains to 
this day an authority on Christian evidences. An- 
other significant result was that Mr. Owen soon 
abandoned his infidel schemes in America and 
returned to Scotland. 

During October, 1836, Mr. 
' p .. Campbell lectured before the 

Cincinnati College of Teachers 
on the subject of "Moral Culture." In the lecture 
he claimed that modern civilization in a large 
measure was traceable to the Lutheran Reformation. 
Bishop Purcell, of the Catholic Church, took issue 
with him, and said that the Reformation had been 
the cause of all of the contention and infidelity in 
the world. Mr. Campbell promptly informed him 
that he was ready for a discussion of their dif- 
ferences. Purcell did not reply at once; and an 
impatient community, much disturbed by the efforts 
of the Catholics to exclude the Bible from the 
public schools, got up a large petition urging Mr, 



152 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

Campbell to come to the defense of Protestantism 
against Rome. The debate of seven days, beginning 
January 13, 1837, in Cincinnati, was finally 
arranged, Mr. Campbell affirming these seven 
propositions : 

a. Not Catholic. "The Roman Catholic insti- 
tution, sometimes called the 'Holy Apostolic 
Church/ is not, nor was she ever, catholic, apos- 
tolic or holy, but is a sect, in the fair import of 
that word, older than any other sect now existing; 
not the mother and mistress of all churches, but 
an apostasy from the only true and apostolic 
Church of Christ. 

b. Human Foundation. "Her notion of 
apostolic succession is without any foundation in 
the Bible, in reason, or in fact; an imposition of 
the most injurious consequences, built upon un- 
scriptural and antiscriptural traditions, rested whol- 
ly upon the opinions of interest and fallible men. 

c. Unstable. "She is not uniform in her faith 
or united in her members, but unstable and fallible 
as any other sect of philosophy or religion — Jew- 
ish, Turkish or Christian; a confederation of sects 
under a politico-ecclesiastic head. 

d. Evil of Prophecy. "She is the Babylon of 
John, the man of sin of Paul, and the empire of 
the youngest horn of Daniel's sea-monster. 

e. Immoral in Tendency. "Her notions of 
purgatory, indulgences, auricular confession, super- 
erogation, etc., essential elements of her system, are 
immoral in their tendency and injurious to the 
well-being of society, religious and political. 



BEGAN AND GREW 153 

/. False in Claim. "Notwithstanding her pre- 
tensions to have given us the Bible and faith in it, 
we are perfectly independent of her for our 
knowledge of that book and its evidences of divine 
origin. 

g. Anti-American. "The Roman Catholic 
religion, if infallible and unsusceptible of reforma- 
tion, as alleged, is essentially anti-American, being 
opposed to the genius of all free institutions, and 
positively subversive of them, opposing the general 
reading of the Scriptures and the diffusion of use- 
ful knowledge among the whole community, as 
essential to liberty and the permanency of good 
government." 

h. Campbell's Courage. It required courage 
and equipment of the highest type to affirm these 
revolutionary propositions, with such an opponent 
as Purcell. But no man was better prepared for 
the task than Mr. Campbell. His life up to 
young manhood had been spent in priest-ridden 
Ireland, where he saw the system under its 
true colors, and learned to loathe it, as he did 
every system of oppression. His thorough knowl- 
edge of the history of the Church, all through her 
bloody career, made him familiar with the ground 
over which he had to pass. And his undenomina- 
tional attitude to the creeds of Christendom left 
him untrammeled in the defense of Christianity 
as no party man could possibly be. A single quota- 
tion from his opening address shows his apprecia- 
tion of this last point. "I come not here," said 
he, "to advocate the particular tenets of any sect, 



154 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

but to defend the great cardinal principles of 
Protestantism. " 

i. Battle of Giants. This was a battle 
between giants on a question of transcendent impor- 
tance, and the interest in it was deep and wide- 
spread. Throughout the discussion Mr. Campbell 
fully sustained himself as a Christian gentleman 
and powerful defender of the truth. The Protes- 
tant clergy of Cincinnati and vicinity, among whom 
was the famous Lyman Beecher, were hearty in 
their commendation. Much prejudice against him 
was dissipated, and his great plea for the restora- 
tion of the ancient order of things was heard by 
them and their people more kindly. 

/'. Verdict of Audience. The audiences were 
large, and increased to the close; and so appre- 
ciative were they that, at a mass-meeting, resolutions 
were adopted declaring "that it is the unanimous 
opinion of this meeting that the cause of Protes- 
tantism has been fully sustained throughout the 
discussion." The debate was published, and had a 
large sale. It is perhaps the strongest thing of 
its kind in the English language. 

k. Thrilling Incident. The following thrilling 
incident, worthy of special mention, occurred dur- 
ing the debate. Mr. Campbell, quoting from the 
"Moral Philosophy" of Alphonso de Liguori, used 
this passage: "A bishop, however poor he may 
be, can not appropriate to himself pecuniary fines 
without the license of the Apostolic See. But he 
ought to apply them to pious uses. Much less 
can he apply those fines to anything else than 



BEGAN AND GREW 155 

religious uses, which the Council of Trent has laid 
upon non-resident clergymen, or upon those clergy- 
men who keep concubines" 

The object of this stinging quotation was to 
show that among the Roman priesthood marriage 
was a worse crime than concubinage, for the 
former brought an immediate excommunication, but 
the latter was winked at, and only fined. 

Purcell indignantly denied that Catholics had 
ever taught such doctrine, and said that no such 
passage was in Liguori's works. Pointing to the 
nine volumes of this author on the stand, he said: 
"I have examined these volumes from cover to 
cover, and in none of them can so much as a 
shadow be found of the infamous charges." He 
then requested Mr. Kinmount, a classical teacher, 
to examine Liguori and find, if possible, this par- 
ticular passage. The next day Purcell brought this 
gentleman to the platform, and he told the audience 
that he had not been able to find the passage. 

At this the most intense excitement prevailed, 
and it looked bad for Mr. Campbell. His quotation 
was not directly from Liguori, but from an Eng- 
lish synopsis made by a Mr. Smith of New York, 
a converted Catholic. He finally got in touch with 
Mr. Smith, who told him that he would find the 
language on page 444 of Volume VIII. Asking 
the loan of this volume from Purcell, he turned to 
this page, and found it word for word as he had 
quoted it, in the bishop's own edition. But he did 
not stop here. He took the original Latin and 
the synopsis of Mr. Smith to Mr. Kinmount, who 



156 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

certified that it was a faithful translation. And 
so Mr. Campbell was vindicated, and his prestige 
greatly increased, while his opponent correspond- 
ingly suffered at the hands of the public. 

a. The Men Contrasted. 

3 ' DC Rice *** Mn Cam P bell ' s last debate was 
with Rev. N. L. Rice (Presby- 
terian), in Lexington, Kentucky, beginning Novem- 
ber 15, 1843, and continuing sixteen days with 
Henry Clay as chief moderator. Rev. R. J. 
Breckenridge, one of their most distinguished men, 
was asked to meet Mr. Campbell, but he declined, 
saying, "No, sir, I will never be Alexander Camp- 
bell's opponent. A man who has done what he 
has to defend Christianity against infidelity, to 
defend Protestantism against the delusions and 
usurpations of Catholicism, I will never oppose 
in public debate. I esteem him too highly." And 
so Mr. Rice, a man wholly unlike Mr. Campbell, 
was selected. The one has been compared to a 
great military leader, marshaling his forces in 
regular military order, and fighting his battles 
according to the highest rules known in material 
warfare; the other, to a guerrilla captain, who 
avoids the open field, and seeks from ambush to 
fall upon his foe at some unguarded point and 
inflict a temporary injury. 

b. Breadth and Sweep of Campbell's Mind. 
An example will show the broad sweep of Mr. 
Campbell's mind. He was aiming to establish the 
general rule that "where words denote specific action 
their derivatives, through all their various flexions 



BEGAN AND GREW 157 

and modifications, retain the specific meaning of the 
root/' Applying this philosophic rule to bap to, he 
showed that in its two thousand flexions and modi- 
fications it retained the radical syllable bap, and 
so never lost the idea of dip. His illustration was 
as follows: "Agriculturists, horticulturists, botanists 
will fully comprehend me when I say that in all 
the domain of vegetable nature, untouched by 
human art, as the root, so is the stem, and so are 
the branches. If the root be oak, the stem can 
not be ash nor the branches cedar. What would 
you think, Mr. President, of the sanity or veracity 
of a backwoodsman who would affirm that he 
found in the state of nature a tree whose root was 
oak, whose stem was cherry, whose boughs were 
pear, and whose leaves were chestnut? If these 
grammarians and philologists have been happy in 
their analogies drawn from the root and branches 
of trees to illustrate the derivations of words, how 
singularly fantastic the genius that creates a 
philological tree whose root is bapto, whose stem 
is cheo, whose branches are rantizo, and whose 
fruit is karharizo! or, if not too ludicrous and 
preposterous for English ears, whose root is dip, 
whose trunk is pour, whose branches are sprinkle, 
and whose fruit is purification!" 

Here is another example of his masterly work: 
"The question now before us," he says, "concerns 
the action — the thing commanded to be done. This 
is, of course, the most important point — the sig- 
nificant and all-important point. Paul gives it high 
rank and consequence when he says, There is one 



158 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

Lord, one faith, one baptism/ There are not two 
modes of any one of these. When we have ascer- 
tained that one action called baptism, there can be 
no other. It is wholly sophistical to talk of two 
modes of baptism, unless, indeed, it be two ways 
of immersing a person. In this there may be a 
plurality of modes. A person may be immersed 
backwards or forwards, kneeling or standing. 
Other modes than these there can not be. Sprink- 
ling is not a mode of immersing; neither is immer- 
sion a mode of sprinkling. If sprinkling, pouring 
and immersion be modes of baptism, then I ask 
what is the thing called baptism? Who can explain 
this? Of what are these three specifically differ- 
ent actions, a mode? If sprinkling be a mode, then 
baptism is something incognito — something which no 
philologist or lexicographer can explain. I pro- 
nounce these modes an unmeaning, sophistical 
jargon, which no one can comprehend. Baptism is 
not a mode — it is an action. The word that rep- 
resents it is improperly, by Mr. Carson, called a 
word of mode. It is a specific action; and the 
verb that represents it is a verb of specific import; 
else there is no such verb in Hebrew, Greek or 
Latin." 

c. Campbell's Comment Desired. It would be 
refreshing to have the comment of Mr. Campbell 
on the teachings of a little coterie of would-be 
leaders among us who have so far departed from 
his teaching as to speak of "immersion baptism" 
and kindred phrases. 

d. Debate a Success. The debate, a volume of 



BEGAN AND GREW 159 

more than nine hundred pages, has had a large 
sale. The Presbyterians for a time encouraged 
its circulation, one of them having bought the copy- 
right. But it was soon seen that it was not to 
their interest to circulate it, and it was sold to 
a friend of the Restoration Movement, and the 
sale was greatly increased. 



160 HOW THE DISCIPLES BEGAN AND GREW 



Questions. 

1. Why is controversy unavoidable? 

2. Tell us of some noted controversialists. 

3. Describe an ideal controversialist. 

4. Tell of the debate with Owen. 

5. Give the incident at the cemetery. 

6. What of Mr. Campbell's great twelve-hour 
speech ? 

7. What of the vote of the audience at the 
close of the debate? 

8. Tell of the debate with Purcell. 

9. Name the propositions discussed. 

10. What did the preachers think of Mr. Camp- 
bell's work? 

11. Relate a thrilling incident of the discussion. 

12. Tell of the debate with Rice. 

13. Give some incidents in the discussion. 

14. Why would not Breckenridge meet Camp- 
bell? 



IX. 
EDUCATIONAL 



11 1G1 



OUTLINE— CHAPTER IX. 

1. Bethany College. 

a. Organization. 

b. Chief Text-book. 

c. Morning Lectures. 

d. The Ideal Teacher. 

e. Present Condition. 
/. Location. 

2. Transylvania University. 

a. History. 

b. Bible College. 

c. Educational Society. 

3. Other Schools. 

a. First List. 
&. Second List. 

c. Female Colleges. 

d. Bible Chairs. 

4. Special Mention. 

a. School of Missions. 

b. Phillips Bible Institute. 

c. Southern Christian Institute. 

5. Summary. 



162 



IX. 

Educational. 

The organization of Bethany College in 1841 
marks an epoch in the history of the Restoration 
Movement. The Campbells, being college men, 
knew the value of education ; but until now so many 
other things occupied them that they could not 
turn their attention to it. They knew that brain 
was greater than brawn; that thought ruled the 
world; that leadership could not be divorced from 
scholarship. They knew that an army by sheer 
courage, numbers and patriotism might achieve 
great results; but the same army carefully drilled, 
and led by trained leaders, has its efficiency multi- 
plied manyfold. 

As early as 1818 Alexander Campbell estab- 
lished in his home "Buffalo Seminary." Educational 
advantages were meager, and he hoped thus to 
help the local community, while he trained young 
men for the ministry. The school was crowded 
from the first. But after a few years it was dis- 
continued. There were several reasons for this. 
It did not meet his expectations in securing young 
preachers; his health suffered from the close con- 
finement; and the increasing demand for his serv- 
ices as a preacher in important and often distant 
places. 

163 



164 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

a. Organization. In 1840 
i. e any o - ^ charter for Bethany College 
was obtained. Mr. Campbell an- 
nounced this fact to the world, with his purposes 
and plans, and asked the aid of his friends. The 
first response, a gift of $1,000, came from W. B. 
Pendleton, of Virginia. And, with characteristic 
energy and faith, he proceeded, at his own respon- 
sibility, to erect a large brick building. At a 
meeting of the trustees on September 18 he was 
elected president; and on May 10, 1841, four 
teachers were added to the Faculty — W. K. Pendle- 
ton, Andrew F. Ross, Charles Stewart and Robert 
Richardson. The school opened October 21. 

b. Chief Text-book. Mr. Campbell's idea of a 
college was new in that he would make the 
Bible the chief text-book. "The formation of 
moral character, the culture of the heart," he said, 
"is the supreme end of education. . . . An immoral 
man is uneducated. The blasphemer, the profane 
swearer, the liar, the calumniator, etc., are unedu- 
cated persons." 

c. Morning Lectures. When the school opened 
he began a series of morning Bible lectures which 
at once became famous. They were neither 
critical nor exegetical, though containing both these 
elements as occasion demanded, but were broad 
generalizations, sweeping through the Book from 
beginning to end, and giving the student a clear 
and comprehensive conception of the doings of 
God in the creation and government of the world. 
W. T. Moore, a Bethany student at that time, says : 



BEGAN AND GREW 165 

"One might not remember anything very special 
that Mr. Campbell said in these lectures, but every 
time he went away from them he felt that he was 
a bigger man. They developed growth, and 
stimulated in a high degree the moral uplift. 
While they did not underestimate the value of intel- 
lectual development, they emphasized with intense 
enthusiasm, and an overwhelming conviction, that 
heart-life is essential to any worthy manhood." 

d. The Ideal Teacher. Mr. Campbell was 
the ideal teacher. While his Faculty was fine, they, 
and every one else, knew that he was the power 
that made the school. Garfield's saying that "Mark 
Hopkins on one' end of a log and a student on 
the other would make a university" was never 
better illustrated than in this case. There can be 
no great school without a great personality at its 
head. What the teacher is, gives force to what he 
says. Words which fall lifeless from the lips of 
others, strengthen and stimulate when they come 
from his lips. There was something in Mr. Camp- 
bell that gripped the student and filled him with 
a desire to be and do something in the world. It 
was impossible to dwell long in his presence and 
not feel that there was a gold mine in you that 
must be developed. As a result, a large number of 
men went out from the school accomplished 
scholars and thorough Bible students, bearing the 
impress of the great teacher, and giving a mighty 
impulse to the principles for which he stood. To 
call the roll of these would show, as nothing else 
could, how much we are indebted to "Old Bethany." 



166 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

Distinguished teachers, preachers, authors and 
statesmen would answer from .all over the land. 
Among the teachers, preachers and authors we find 
Thomas Munnell, O. A. Burgess, Charles Carlton, 
Robert Graham, Moses E. Lard, Alexander Procter, 
F. D. Power, J. W. McGarvey, J. S. Lamar, Wil- 
liam Baxter, C. L. Loos and W. H. Woolery. 
Among statesmen we find Senator Geo. T. Oliver, 
of Pennsylvania, and Champ Clark, Speaker of 
Congress. In the Judiciary we find Joseph L. 
Lamar on the Supreme Bench. Besides these, in 
the business world and in church work, there is a 
multitude doing valiant service in the kingdom of 
the Lord. 

e. Present Condition. The school, under the 
leadership of Pres. T. E. Cramblet, has passed her 
threescore and ten years, and grown better as she 
grows older. Four large buildings have recently 
been completed at a cost of $120,000, making eight 
such structures, besides twenty dwelling-houses. 
During last year Earl W. Oglebay, a wealthy Epis- 
copal layman and an alumnus of Bethany, pur- 
chased the old Alexander farm at a cost of $25,000, 
and donated it to the Agricultural Department of 
the school. He has erected and equipped a build- 
ing near the old Gothic structure at a cost of 
$65,000 for the use of the department. He further 
plans to make the old Campbell mansion and 
grounds, including the cemetery, a memorial to 
Mr. Campbell, provided the plan meets with encour- 
agement from the brethren. This home is to be 
a museum containing Mr. Campbell's books, pic- 



BEGAN AND GREW 167 

tures, etc., and all other historic books and docu- 
ments pertaining to the development of the 
Restoration Movement. 

The school has property worth almost a half- 
million dollars, with an endowment of $360,000, 
and 250 students, one-third of whom are preparing 
for the ministry. 

/. Location. Some have thought the location 
of Bethany College a mistake, but this is not clear. 
Of course, it had to be west of the Alleghanies, 
for our people were there; and, this being true, 
Bethany possessed decided advantages as a location. 
It was in Brooke County, Virginia (now West 
Virginia), forty miles south of Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- 
vania, and seven miles from Wellsburg, on the 
Ohio River. There were no railroads then, and 
travel was largely confined to the water-ways. The 
surroundings were beautiful, picturesque and 
healthful. The crystal waters of the Buffalo, the 
rugged mountains, the charming valleys and the 
massive forests made it one of the loveliest and 
most inspiring spots on the earth for student life. 
The isolation was a safeguard against the corrup- 
tions of the city. It was near the center of popula- 
tion, and in easy touch with it. And it is more 
so now, for a trolley line connects it with Wells- 
burg. 

a. History. In connection 

,j . . with the story of Bethany Col- 

lege that of Transylvania Uni- 
versity must also be told. In 1836 Bacon College 
was founded at Georgetown, Kentucky, with Walter 



168 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

Scott as president pro tern. To John T. Johnson, 
perhaps more than to any other man, belongs the 
honor of this enterprise. In 1840 it was moved 
to Harrodsburg, and James Shannon became presi- 
dent. Mr. Shannon was a power in the educational 
world. He was educated at Belfast Academical 
(now Royal) Institute, Ireland, where he won 
prizes in Latin, Greek, mathematics, and natural 
and moral philosophy. Later he was elected presi- 
dent of Missouri University, where he did a great 
work. The school after a time was moved to 
Lexington, and was known as Kentucky University, 
but is now known as Transylvania University. It 
is the oldest college west of the Alleghanies, and 
has a record of which its friends may well be proud. 
It really began its existence in 1798, with George 
Washington, John Adams, Aaron Burr and General 
Lafayette as contributors to the first endowment 
fund. Henry Clay was at one time in the Faculty, 
and Jefferson Davis was for four years a student 
within her walls. The school is now 114 years 
old. The plant is worth $750,000, and has an 
endowment of half a million dollars, and 586 
students. R. H. Crossfield is president, and the 
outlook is the brightest in the history of this old 
institution. 

b. Bible College. The Bible College connected 
with Transylvania has rendered valiant service for 
the Restoration Movement. It was organized in 
1865 as one of the colleges of the university with 
Robert Milligan as president, and J. W. McGarvey 
his assistant. In a short time I. B. Grubbs was 



BEGAN AND GREW 169 

added to the Faculty. About fifty-five hundred of 
our preachers at home and abroad have received 
all, or the chief part, of their education in this 
school. 

c. Educational Society. The Kentucky Edu- 
cation Society deserves much credit for this won- 
derful work. It was organized in 1856 by such 
men as Philip S. Fall, William Morton and John 
T. Johnson. It has expended more than $100,000, 
and aided in the education of more than five hun- 
dred young men, among whom are many of the 
leading preachers, teachers, writers and mission- 
aries. At first its help was a gift, but now it is 
a loan without interest. 

_ . , , a- First List. Bethany and 

3. Other Schools ~ , . A . J 

lransylvania deserve the space 

given them, for they were pioneers in educational 
work. But the greatest blessing from them was 
not the work within their own walls, but that 
which they aroused in the land at large. The 
educational spirit was quickened, and schools sprang 
up in many places. In 1849 the Western Insti- 
tute was organized at Hiram, Ohio. James A. 
Garfield, afterwards President of the United States, 
was the second president of the school. Eighteen 
years later it became Hiram College, and is now 
among our best schools. In 1850 Butler College, 
Indianapolis, Indiana, was chartered. It was first 
known as Northwestern Christian University. It 
is a good school. In 1855 Eureka College, Eureka, 
Illinois, was launched under the title of Walnut 
Grove Academy. It also has been a success. 



170 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

Abingdon College, of the same State, after years 
of usefulness, became a part of Eureka College. 
In 1853 Christian University, Canton, Missouri, was 
organized. It is claimed that this is the first 
school in the United States to grant equal privi- 
leges to men and women. It is beautifully situated 
on an eminence overlooking the Mississippi River. 
Many successful preachers have been educated at 
Canton. About this time Oskaloosa College, Os- 
kaloosa, Iowa, was founded, and it proved to be 
the nucleus of Drake University, Des Moines, one 
of our leading educational institutions. It has 
an enrollment of about two thousand, property 
worth $700,000, an endowment of $570,000, and has 
graduated in a single year forty preachers from the 
Bible Department. Hill M. Bell is president of this 
great school. In 1873 Addison and Randolph Clark 
(brothers) moved their private school from Ft. 
Worth, Texas, to Thorp Spring, where it was 
chartered as Add-Ran College. In 1889 the school 
became the property of the Texas churches, with 
the name changed to "Add-Ran Christian Uni- 
versity." In 1895 it was moved to Waco. In 1911 
it returned to the place of its birth, and is now 
known as Texas Christian University, with prop- 
erty worth $450,000. F. D. Kershner, the new 
president, is confident of enlarged usefulness in 
the near future. Johnson Bible College, formerly 
the School of Evangelists, Kimberlin Heights, 
Tennessee, was founded by Ashley S. Johnson, its 
first and only president, in 1893. He began with 
$100, ten acres of land ? two mules, three cows, and 



BEGAN AND GREW 171 

one lonely student: Albert T. Fitts, of South 
Carolina, "plus faith, plus obedience, plus prayer, 
plus energy." To-day the plant is worth $200,000, 
and the student body, more than two hundred 
strong, representing a half-hundred States and 
countries, is one of the most promising factors in 
the Church of the future. Not one of these young 
men uses tobacco. President Johnson says we 
must do one of two things: train more preachers, 
or become a "disappearing brotherhood," and he 
prefers the former, and is doing his part in 
preacher-training. Oklahoma Christian University 
(now Phillips), located at Enid, is a young and 
vigorous school. For several years the necessity 
for such a school for the middle Southwest has 
been manifest to thoughtful brethren. And in 
1906, when Oklahoma and Indian Territories 
became a State under the name "Oklahoma," the 
opportune time came to act in the matter. E. V. 
Zollars, a leading educator, was selected to lead 
the enterprise, and T. W. Phillips, a man famous 
for generous deeds, tendered the support of Presi- 
dent Zollars while the experiment was being made. 
(Mr. Phillips continued this support for four 
years.) Large, modern buildings have been erected, 
the enrollment has reached 350, with one-fourth 
of them preparing to preach. The plant is worth 
$150,000, and has an endowment of $25,000. Cot- 
tier University, Bethany (Lincoln), Nebraska, was 
established in 1888, and has been prosperous from 
the beginning. Enrollment, 350; property value, 
$150,000, with endowment of $30,000. It has fifty 



172 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

ministerial students. William Oeschger is presi- 
dent. Virginia Christian College is located at 
Lynchburg, and was founded by Josephus Hop- 
wood in 1903. It has elegant grounds and build- 
ings, worth $200,000, and a student body of 150 
O. G. Davis is president. 

&. Second List. There are many other schools 
of sterling worth, but we can mention only a few 
of them: Atlantic Christian College, Wilson, North 
Carolina; Eugene Bible University, Eugene, Ore- 
gon; Keuka College, Keuka Park, New York; 
Louisville Christian Bible School, Louisville, Ken- 
tucky; Milligan College, Milligan, Tennessee; 
Southern Christian College, West Point, Missis- 
sippi ; Washington Christian College, Washington, 
District of Columbia. These smaller schools are 
fighting against great odds. They are in danger 
of being ground to powder between the lower 
millstone of the public school and the upper mill- 
stone of State universities, and other largely 
endowed institutions. And yet they are as essen- 
tial to these larger ones as the thousands of 
smaller tributaries are to the Mississippi River. 

c. Female Colleges. There are also many 
excellent female colleges. P. S. FalL at an early 
day, led in this work with a school in Frankfort, 
Kentucky. Missouri has three such schools: Chris- 
tian College, Columbia; William Woods College, 
Fulton, and Missouri Christian College, Camden 
Point. We also mention three in Kentucky: Mid- 
way Orphan School, Midway, and Hamilton and 
Campbell-Hagerman, Lexington. Texas has two: 



BEGAN AND GREW 173 

Carlton College, Bonham, and Carr-Burdette, Sher- 
man. All of our schools for women are in the 
South. 

d. Bible Chairs. Besides these, the Christian 
Woman's Board of Missions has established Bible 
Chairs at Ann Arbor, Michigan; Charlottesville, 
Virginia; Lawrence, Kansas, and Austin, Texas, in 
connection with the universities of these States. 

a. School of Missions. The 
4. Special Men- College of Missions, Indianapolis, 
Indiana, is one of our most sig- 
nificant institutions. The school is of a high grade, 
and its purpose is to fit missionaries, both at home and 
abroad, for their work. It assumes that no student, 
however gifted and cultured, is fitted for the mis- 
sion field without special training. It is two years 
old, has an equipment of $100,000, a Faculty of six 
specialists, and a student body of twenty-eight, just 
double the number of the first year; and the pros- 
pect for another 100 per cent, increase for the 
third year. Professor Paul is president. 

b. Phillips Bible Institute. Phillips Bible 
Institute, Canton, Ohio, is also unique and impor- 
tant as an institution of learning. The special aim 
of the school is to so aid the large number of pious 
people who are deprived of a college education, 
that they may become successful workers in the 
Church. Such an aim is worthy and wise, and it 
must win. The founder of the school (T. W. 
Phillips) was a man famous for many good deeds, 
of which, perhaps, this is the best, and the dean of 
the Faculty is Martin L. Pierce. 



174 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

c. Southern Christian Institute. The 
Southern Christian Institute, Lum, Mississippi, is 
our only high-grade industrial college for the col- 
ored people. It has property worth $190,000, a 
Faculty of thirteen, and an enrollment of 233. It 
is under the control of the C. W. B. M. These 
wise women believe that the negro now is more in 
need of the aid of an industrial training, coupled 
with the fundamentals of a good English and relig- 
ious education, than of an education in literature, 
science and the arts. There are thirteen ministerial 
students in the school. The Louisville Bible Col- 
lege, where preachers are trained for the colored 
churches, has an enrollment of seventeen. 

So great has been the growth 
5 . Summary q£ ^ wQrk that p rof AJya 

W. Taylor says: "To-day we have no less than 
eighteen full-panoplied colleges and universities, six 
junior colleges for women, four Bible colleges 
articulating with great secular schools, seven Bible 
chairs giving religious instruction at State schools, 
an institute giving instruction to lay workers as a 
specialty, and the whole crowned by a college of 
missions which takes those graduate students who 
are willing to devote their lives to the ministry of 
a missionary and trains them in the arts of their 
holy calling. Besides all these, there are all our 
schools on the mission fields, training peoples of 
every color in industrial arts, and raising up from 
among them an intelligent ministry and leadership 
for all walks of life/' 

From the data at hand we feel safe in saying 



BEGAN AND GREW 175 

that in all these schools there are about nine thou- 
sand students, of whom thirteen hundred are prepar- 
ing to preach. Adding to this number all the min- 
isterial students in Harvard, Yale, Union, and other 
universities, it would probably foot up almost fifteen 
hundred. The equipment amounts to about $6,000,- 
000, and the endowment to about $4,000,000, mak- 
ing a grand total of $10,000,000 invested in our 
educational institutions. If to this amount, which 
is properly included, we could add the money value 
and the students enrolled in the Bible chairs and 
mission schools at home and in the foreign field, 
these figures would be largely increased. 

The establishment of so many schools in little 
more than a half -century is remarkable, and it 
augurs well for the future. 



176 HOW THE DISCIPLES BEGAN AND GREW 



Questions. 

1. Why were the educational interests delayed? 

2. Tell of the establishment of Bethany Col- 
lege. 

3. What was new in Mr. Campbell's idea of a 
college ? 

4. Name some of the graduates of Bethany 
College. 

5. What are the present status and prospects of 
the school? 

6. Sketch the history of Transylvania Univer- 
sity. 

7. What about the Bible College? 

8. Name some other colleges. 

9. What of the College of Missions? 

10. What of Phillips Bible Institute? 

11. What of the Southern Christian Institute? 

12. Give the grand summary of our educational 
interests. 



X. 

MISSIONARY 



12 177 



OUTLINE— CHAPTER X. 

1. Work Through Societies. 

a. American Christian Missionary 

Society. 

b. Christian Woman's Board of Mis- 

sions. 

c. Foreign Christian Missionary So- 

ciety. 

d. National Benevolent Association. 

e. Board of Church Extension. 
/. Board of Ministerial Relief. 

2. Independent Work. 

a. England. 

b. Canada. 

c. Australia. 

d. Japan. 

e. Australian Missions. 
/. France. 



178 



X. 

Missionary. 

a. American Christian Mis- 
i. Work Through sionary Society. The American 
Christian Missionary Society was 
organized in Cincinnati, Ohio, October, 1849, just 
forty years after the publication of the "Declaration 
and Address/' and it marks a forward step in the 
history of the Restoration Movement. Up to this 
time questions of doctrine and of local church 
work had so absorbed the thought and energies of 
the leaders that they had no time to consider mis- 
sionary problems. But henceforth this is not to 
be true. 

As early as 1840 the Harbinger was agitating a 
closer alliance of the churches in a wider work 
than could be accomplished by single congregations. 
And this sentiment so increased that Mr. Campbell, 
in the February issue of 1849, said: "There is now 
heard from the East and from the West, from the 
North and from the South, one general, if not 
universal, call for a more efficient organization of 
our churches. Experience decides that our present 
co-operative system is comparatively inefficient, and 
inadequate to the exigencies of the times and the 
cause we plead." Illustrating his thought, he com- 
pared the churches to families, and said : "The con- 

179 



180 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

stitutional independence, and individual respon- 
sibilities of families, do not prevent their association 
in towns, cities and states for the better securing 
their respective interests. . . . Such were the tribes 
of Israel, and such, to a certain degree, were the 
churches planted by the Apostles. " Speaking of the 
details of such organization, he said: "These are 
wisely left to human wisdom and prudence. . . . 
Such meetings have no special control over indi- 
vidual churches, nor any deputed or divine right to 
exercise jurisdiction over particular communities. ,, 

But there were some who thought such conven- 
tions should have the power of "a sort of morally 
authoritative deliverance' 9 in the settlement of the 
various questions which naturally rise in the prog- 
ress of the work, and an effort to this end was 
made at Cincinnati; but it failed. The brethren 
were extremely anxious to have it known that they 
assumed no authority over the churches, and that 
their action was advisory, and not mandatory. And 
so, W. K. Pendleton, reporting the Convention, 
said: "We met, not for the purpose of enacting 
ecclesiastical laws, nor to interfere with the Scrip- 
tural independence of the churches, but to consult 
about the best ways for giving efficiency to our 
power, and to devise such methods of co-operation 
as our combined counsels, under the guidance of 
Providence, might suggest and approve." 

Pursuant to a general call, the Convention 
assembled in the church at Eighth and Walnut 
Streets, Monday, October 22. The day following, 
a temporary organization was effected by calling 



BEGAN AND GREW 181 

Dr. L. L. Pinkerton to the chair, and electing John 
M. Braumwell, secretary. Permanent officers were 
then chosen : President, A. Campbell, and Vice-Pres- 
idents : D. S. Burnet, John O'Kane, John T. John- 
son and Walter Scott. 

The Convention met for business the next morn- 
ing at nine o'clock. President Campbell being 
absent on account of sickness, Vice-President Bur- 
net presided. The attendance, all things considered, 
was good. Most of the churches were west of the 
Alleghanies, and were without railroad facilities. 
Many came long distances from the Atlantic States, 
and some from as far south as New Orleans. Most 
of them rode horseback. There were 156 mes- 
sengers from eleven States, representing more than 
one hundred churches. 

Sixty-two years have passed since the organiza- 
tion of the American Christian Missionary Society, 
and she has demonstrated her right to live, as the 
following record shows : Churches established, about 
4,000; persons baptized, about 200,000; received 
from other sources, about 200,000; money raised 
and disbursed, about $2,400,000. 

b. The Christian Woman's Board of Mis- 
sions. This society was organized in Cincinnati 
during the General Convention, October, 1874. 
After much consultation between a number of influ- 
ential women, Mrs. Caroline Pearre wrote Thomas 
Munnell, corresponding secretary of the American 
Christian Missionary Society, presenting their plans 
and asking his advice. In his answer is found this 
beautiful and prophetic sentence: "This is a flame 



182 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

of the Lord's kindling, and no man can extinguish 
it." Isaac Errett wrote his famous editorial in the 
Christian Standard, "Help Those Women/' at this 
time; J. H. Garrison also lent the movement the 
influence of his paper, The Christian, now the 
Christian-Evangelist. About seventy-five women 
participated in the organization. The first officers 
were Mrs. Maria Jameson, President; Mrs. William 
Wallace, Recording Secretary; Mrs. C. N. Pearre, 
Corresponding Secretary, and Mrs. O. A. Burgess, 
Treasurer, with headquarters at Indianapolis, 
Indiana. These officers were presented to the Con- 
vention, and, following a cordial reception, the fol- 
lowing resolution was adopted: "Resolved, That 
this Convention extends to the Christian Woman's 
Board of Missions recognition and hearty approval, 
assured that it opens a legitimate field of action 
and usefulness in which Christian women may be 
active co-operants of ours in the great work of 
sending the gospel into all the world. We pledge 
ourselves to help these women who propose to labor 
with us in the gospel." 

Their motto was, "The love of Christ constrain- 
eth us;" their field was the world; and their plan 
was to organize auxiliary societies in the churches 
with dues of ten cents a month. The following, 
from the first president to her first executive com- 
mittee, touches the keynote of their plan: "As little, 
insignificant rivulets from unnoticed, hidden springs 
running together make the constant larger stream, 
which hurrying on with swollen waters bears its 
steady contribution to the great river, so will the 



BEGAN AND GREW 183 

mites of the poor widows, and the pennies of the 
children, and the dollars of the salaried women, and 
the larger sums of those with independent incomes, 
flowing together make one great stream pouring 
forth to water and refresh the fields of missionary 
labor." 

Their phenomenal success is an unanswerable 
argument for the wisdom of their plan. The forms 
of work are evangelistic, educational, medical, 
orphanage, colporteur, industrial, and house-to-house 
visitation. Their fields of labor are the United 
States, Canada, New Zealand, Jamaica, India, Mex- 
ico, Porto Rico, South America and Africa. 

The offerings from 1874 to date amount to about 
$4,000,000, and the property is valued at $1,000,000. 

c. The Foreign Christian Missionary 
Society. This society was organized at the Nation- 
al Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1875. 
Officers were elected as follows: President, Isaac 
Errett; Vice-Presidents, W. T. Moore, Jacob Bur- 
net, J. S. Lamar; Corresponding Secretary, Robert 
Moffett; Recording Secretary, B. B. Tyler; Treas- 
urer, W. S. Dickinson, with headquarters in Cin- 
cinnati. 

As in the case of the women's work, there was 
no friction or opposition to the "mother society" 
in this move. It was prompted solely by the con- 
viction that the work, both at home and abroad, 
would be helped by it. The two societies have 
always met together in their annual conventions, 
and have worked in perfect harmony. 

One of the most important factors in this 



184 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

society is "Children's Day." Its origin is natural, 
beautiful and inspiring. Just before the Louisville 
Convention in 1880, J. H. Garrison, with his fam- 
ily, was at the family altar at the close of the day. 
The father in his prayer asked God to bless their 
efforts to send the gospel into all lands by leading 
every one to more liberal giving for this purpose. 
At the close of the prayer their little boys, Arthur 
and Earnest, said: "We want to give something." 
And they brought their jugs and emptied them of 
their contents of $1.13, and said: "We want this 
to go to the children who know nothing about 
Jesus." The father took it to Louisville, and, in an 
address before the Convention, told the story. It 
touched the hearts and opened the purses of every- 
body. And to-day this pittance has been so mul- 
tiplied that these little ones have more than a 
million dollars to their credit for the evangelization 
of the world. 

The society is at work in Japan, China, Philip- 
pine Islands, India, Africa, Cuba, Norway, Sweden, 
Denmark and England. The work is varied: 
evangelistic, educational, medical, literary and 
benevolent. There are 169 missionaries and 759 
native helpers, totaling 928. There are ninety-five 
schools with 5,096 pupils, and of this number 295 
native students are preparing for the ministry in 
their native lands. Total receipts, about $5,500,000. 

d. The National Benevolent Association. 
This society was organized in St. Louis, Missouri, 
in 1886. The first act of the Association was to aid 
a sick brother who had a large family dependent 



BEGAN AND GREW 185 

upon his labor. The first donation was five dollars, 
which came from Galena, Kansas. The Association 
was incorporated in 1887, with St. Louis as head- 
quarters; and the first Home was opened in that 
city in 1889, in a rented cottage. 

The aim of the Association is to establish Homes 
and hospitals wherever needed; to help all who 
deserve assistance, especially those of our own 
people; and thus save orphan children and aged 
Christians from the almshouse, and thrill the 
Restoration Movement with the spirit of benevo- 
lence seen in the Lord and the early Church. 
Orphans and other unfortunate children, under 
fourteen years, are eligible to the Homes of the 
Association. These are placed in Christian families 
as rapidly as possible. Old and indigent Chris- 
tians of seventy years are received on recommenda- 
tion of their congregations, and upon the payment 
of $100. Husband and wife, $150. In the hospital 
the destitute sick receive free treatment. 

The work of the Association is conducted through 
eleven affiliated institutions : Christian Orphans' 
Home, St. Louis, Missouri; Christian Orphans' 
Home, Cleveland, Ohio; Juliette Fowler Christian 
Home, Dallas, Texas; Southern Christian Home, 
Atlanta, Georgia; Colorado Christian Home, Den- 
ver, Colorado; Northwestern Christian Benevolent 
Association, Portland, Oregon; Christian Old 
People's Home, Jacksonville, Illinois; Havens Home 
for the Aged, East Aurora, New York; Northwest- 
ern Christian Home for the Aged, Walla Walla, 
Washington; Sarah Harwood Home for the Aged, 



186 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

Dallas, Texas; Valparaiso Christian Hospital, Val- 
paraiso, Indiana. 

The Association has property valued at $363,000, 
and it carries annuities amounting to $160,000. It 
has aided two hundred aged, indigent Christians, 
one thousand widows, and placed four thousand 
orphan children in homes. All in all, it has aided 
not less than fifteen thousand people. Total money 
received, about $1,300,000. 

But its greatest enterprise is an immense 
national hospital at Kansas City, Missouri, costing 
more than a million dollars, the work on which has 
already begun. A large part of its work is to be 
free to those unable to pay. This noble and Christ- 
like enterprise is traceable to R. A. Long, a wealthy 
Christian gentleman, whose warm heart suggested 
it, and whose liberal hand has made it possible. 

e. The Board of Church Extension. This 
Board was organized at the National Convention, 
Springfield, Illinois, in 1888, with headquarters at 
Kansas City, Missouri. F. M. Rains was the first 
corresponding secretary. Its purpose is to help 
house homeless churches by lending them money at 
a low interest, to be returned in five annual install- 
ments. Many good business men doubted the wis- 
dom of this policy, fearing that these weak mis- 
sion churches would not be eager to return the 
money, since it belonged to the brotherhood. But 
the fact that, of the 1,502 churches thus aided, 900 
have paid their loans in full, and $1,259,241 has 
been paid back on loans, has dissipated all such 
fears. And the further fact that the Board, in 



BEGAN AND GREW 187 

handling about $2,500,000 in loans scattered through 
forty-four States and Territories and Canada, has 
only lost $1,038, which is about one-twentieth of 
one per cent., has demonstrated its business ability 
and secured for itself a warm place in the heart 
of the brotherhood. 

/. The Board of Ministerial Relief. This 
Society was organized at the National Convention, 
Dallas, Texas, in 1895, with headquarters at Indian- 
apolis, Indiana. The purpose is to care for aged, 
dependent preachers. The contributions have been 
altogether too small for so good a work, but they 
are increasing, and the outlook is bright. A. L. 
Orcutt is president of the Board. And recently 
W. R. Warren, a man eminently fitted for the field, 
has been added to the official force, which means 
a large success in the near future. Receipts for 
the last two years were $40,000. 

Every New Testament church 
2 - In ^£ dent was absolutely independent of 
every other church, as much so 
as the different families of a community. They 
acted separately or in concert as they thought best. 
And this must continue as our practice if we 
would reproduce the church of that day. There 
must be no exclusive agencies. If one chooses to 
work through a missionary society, let him do it; 
but if he chooses to work through his own congre- 
gation, or as an individual, he must not be molested. 
Our societies are to stand or fall, not by the offi- 
cial authority of a convention, but by merit. We 
should not disparage the work of either, but encour- 



188 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

age both, so long as they result in the salvation of 
men. Having spoken of the leading societies, we 
now call attention to some of the independent mis- 
sions. 

a. England. Let it not be forgotten that the 
thought of Christian union was conceived in the 
heart of Thomas Campbell while he was in the 
Old World, though it was born in America. Let 
it also be remembered that it was in the Old World 
that his great son, Alexander, first saw the evil of 
denominationalism, and broke with it; and it was 
there he promised God that if he would save him 
from the shipwreck he would give his life to the 
ministry of the Word. Remembering this, as we 
look upon the greater growth of their work in the 
New World, we will not forget that it had its root- 
age in the Old. It will also deepen our interest in 
the progress of their plea in that land. 

The leaven brought by these men to America, 
and which has wrought so mightily here, has not 
been latent there. In May, 1809, there was a 
church of Christ in Chester, Coxlane, North 
Wales. This old congregation — older than Brush 
Run — has celebrated its one hundredth anniversary. 
And during the first quarter of the last century 
churches were organized in Bristol, Shrewsbury, 
Wrexham and London, and in other places in the 
north. But these churches seemed ignorant of 
each other, and of similar churches in America, 
until 1833. It was in this year that a young stu- 
dent from America — Peyton C. Wyeth — worshiped 
one Sunday morning with a Baptist church near 



BEGAN AND GREW 189 

Finsbury Pavement, London. He had heard Alex- 
ander Campbell, and had accepted his teachings, and 
he was letting his light shine wherever he went — 
even in the metropolis of the world. After the 
service he spoke to William Jones, one of the 
officers of the church, and a religious author of 
ability, and told him of the Campbells and their 
wonderful work across the Atlantic. Mr. Jones 
was so impressed by the story of the young enthu- 
siast that he wrote Mr. Campbell. Soon after this 
he started the British Millennial Harbinger, hoping 
through its influence to swing the Scottish Baptist 
churches of England into the Restoration Move- 
ment. Of course such a move would create dissen- 
sion; and when the editor saw it, he gave it up, 
rather than become a disturbing element among his 
brethren. 

But the young student's work was not in vain. 
Other churches, struggling for the reproduction of 
primitive Christianity, heard the good news, got 
in touch with each other, and in 1842 forty-two 
of them, representing thirteen hundred members, 
came together in their first general meeting at 
Edinburgh. In 1847 they had a second meeting at 
Chester, which was presided over by Alexander 
Campbell, who was present at the urgent invitation 
of the English brethren. This meeting represented 
eighty churches, with twenty-three hundred mem- 
bers. 

In 1845 Timothy Coop, of Southport, was con- 
verted. He brought into the church wealth, con- 
secration and aggressiveness. He visited America, 



190 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

and imbibed the spirit of enterprise characteristic 
of the American Church, and he sought to transfer 
it to England. He proposed to the Foreign Chris- 
tian Missionary Society to give $5,000 for every 
$10,000 they would devote to the evangelization of 
England. The proposition was accepted, and evan- 
gelists were sent across the sea. The message of 
these men was familiar and acceptable, but the 
methods were so new and strange that dissension 
followed. Many did not take kindly to what was then 
a new evangelism; neither did they like to appear 
as though they needed financial aid from others; 
but least of all were they willing to be classed 
among those in need of missionaries from a society 
whose special work was the evangelization of the 
heathen. Had the work been on the basis of co- 
operation with the English brethren, and not inde- 
pendently of them, results would probably have 
been different. But as it was, in 1880 the churches 
favoring American methods formed an organiza- 
tion called the Christian Association. 

This new organization has not met the hopes of 
its friends. It has now, after about thirty years, 
only twenty churches, with about two thousand 
members. The other brethren have succeeded bet- 
ter, and now have 190 churches, with a member- 
ship of about fifteen thousand. But the difficulties 
here are great. It is an old country, with the 
religious habits of the people fixed and firm; the 
Established Church is there entrenched behind the 
law, and rich in money and social influence; and 
the brethren have no college in which to train their 



BEGAN AND GREW 191 

preachers. But if these people could be brought 
together in harmonious co-operation, all difficulties 
would vanish, and God would crown their labors 
with a great victory. We have the right to differ, 
but not to divide, except on fundamentals. 

b. Canada. Canada is the land of opportunity. 
Sir Wilfred Laurier says: "The nineteenth cen- 
tury belonged to the United States; the twentieth 
century will belong to Canada/' Doubtless Canada 
will witness wonderful progress in the next hun- 
dred years; but the same will be true of the 
United States. They are sister governments, living 
side by side, with only the forty-ninth parallel of 
north latitude, unfortified, and an imaginary line 
midway in the lakes and rivers, between them. 
But such lines count for nothing in Christianity. 
Christ was a Jew, but he was not Jewish; and his 
religion, born in little Palestine, is for the world. 

Canada is a large country: four hundred thou- 
sand square miles larger than the United States; 
and it forms about one-third of the British Empire, 
and is only a little less in size than the continent of 
Europe. Omitting the northern section, which is 
hardly habitable, it is still equal in territory with 
her southern sister. The soil is rich, the mineral 
wealth is great, and the climate is invigorating, con- 
ducive to the production of a hardy, energetic and 
thinking people. The population is now more than 
eight million, and is increasing rapidly. 

The first traces of the Restoration principles 
were seen at River John, Nova Scotia, about 1815, 
in the old Scotch Baptist order. The work in 



192 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

Prince Edward was a development from this order. 
Benjamin Howard, an evangelist from the United 
States, preached in this region fully seventy-five 
years ago. His was the work of promiscuous seed- 
sowing, for no churches were organized till 1840. 
D. Crawford, G. Garrity, W. Hughes and H. 
Greenlow were also worthy pioneers in that 
country. 

Canada now has 100 churches, 10,000 members, 
90 ministers, and church property worth $250,000. 
Her expenditures annually are about $50,000 for 
local work, $7,000 for Home Missions, $4,000 for 
Foreign Missions, and $3,000 from the women. 
These figures are proof of a consecrated band of 
Christians, awake alike to the wants of the world 
at home and abroad. The first grave dug in the 
foreign field was for a daughter of Nova Scotia; 
and it was a daughter of Ontario, with great sacri- 
fice, who first knocked at the door of Tibet. 
Besides these, she has sent many others to the 
heathen world, and given to the United States a 
large number of her most useful men. But, like 
England, her chief need is a school in which to 
train her sons and daughters for the fruitful field 
crying for more laborers. 

c. Australia. Australia, the island-continent, 
and the largest of the islands, has a coast-line of 
ten thousand miles, . and is two-thirds as large as 
the United States. The population is nearing the 
5,000,000 mark, and is growing at a rapid rate. The 
soil is among the best in the world, and the mineral 
wealth is wonderful. The output of her mines 



BEGAN AND GREW 193 

increased from $40,000,000 in 1871 to $120,000,000 
in 1905. Her imports in 1908 reached the hand- 
some sum of $500,000,000, and her exports, 
$610,000,000. 

The seed of the primitive gospel came to this 
great Southland from the British churches. This 
was as it should be, for Great Britain is the mother 
of Australia. Sturdy men from the home land 
came there, and at once unfurled the Lord's ban- 
ner, established the Lord's table in their homes, and 
began to tell their neighbors of his love and his 
power to save. For years they had no preachers 
giving their entire time to the ministry of the 
Word, but all of them preached all the time, as 
they mingled with men in the business and social 
world (see Acts 8:4), and the Lord saw to it that 
his word did not return to him void (Isa. 55: 11). 

While the work thus had its origin from Great 
Britain, it received a wonderful impetus from 
American importations. From the British churches 
they received the good seed of the kingdom, and 
were rooted and grounded in loyalty to the Lord. 
But from America came royal spirits, among them 
Earl, Surber, Gore, Geeslin, Carr, Haley, Maston, 
and others, who brought with them the American 
spirit of co-operation and evangelism, and the com- 
bination proved a rich blessing to the cause. In 
Adelaide, where work began in the late forties, there 
are ten churches, three missions, and about four 
thousand members; in Sydney, where it began in 
1851, there are fourteen churches, with about three 

thousand members; and in Melbourne, where it 
is 



194 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

began in 1853, there are thirty-five churches, and 
more than five thousand members. The work has 
more than doubled in the last eighteen years, and 
there are now on the island about thirty thousand 
members. 

Australia has taken two important steps looking 
to the prosperity and permanency of the work: 
established a paper and a college. The Australian 
Christian was established by the late A. B. Maston, 
and it is doing good service. And the Australasian 
Bible College in Melbourne has about fifty young 
men preparing to preach the gospel. This is a 
hopeful beginning. 

d. Japan. Soon after his graduation from 
Bethany College in 1894, W. D. Cunningham was 
asked by the Foreign Society to become one of 
their missionaries. In 1898 he and his wife were 
appointed to go to Japan. Two days after start- 
ing for the field Mr. Cunningham was taken ill. 
And after his recovery the Board decided that they 
would not be able to do the work, and did not 
reappoint him. But they would not be dissuaded. 
They felt that God had called them, and they 
would go, trusting him for all things needed. On 
October 1, 1901, they reached Tokyo. Mr. Cun- 
ningham secured the position of English teacher in 
a school and thus provided for living expenses. 
He soon organized Bible classes, distributed Chris- 
tian literature, and began to preach on the streets. 
Just one month after his arrival he began the 
publication of the Tokyo Christian, a monthly, and 
it has become a permanent feature of his work. 



BEGAN AND GREW 195 

The Lord has never disappointed those who 
trust in him. In 1902 Miss Alice Miller asked Mr. 
Cunningham to take charge of the evangelistic work 
which she had conducted, successfully in Yotsuya. 
The invitation was accepted, and plans were at once 
adopted for needed buildings. Friends in America 
came to the rescue, and the buildings were erected. 
Three missions have been established, and three 
evangelists are employed, and more than two hun- 
dred have been baptized into the Christ. 

e. Australian Missions. The New Zealand 
churches support three white missionaries at Bula- 
wayo, South Africa. The Australian churches sup- 
port, as living links through the Foreign Christian 
Missionary Society, one missionary each in China, 
Japan and India. Two other stations have been 
established: at Beramati, India, and one on Pente- 
cost Island, New Hebrides. Seven white mission- 
aries and twelve natives are employed at these two 
points, and more than three hundred have been bap- 
tized in a single year. Their work is done through a 
committee appointed by the churches in their annual 
conference. 

/. France. In May, 1909, Alfred E. Seddon 
was sent by the Christian Standard to France to 
write up the Hors-de-Rome movement in that 
country. He was to remain there five months. No 
other instructions were given, hence the mission 
work that sprang out of it may be regarded as a 
work of Providence. 

Soon after Mr. Seddon reached Paris he made 
the acquaintance of some ex-priests, and a sys- 



196 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

tematic study of the New Testament was begun. 
The first meeting was held in the home of Mr. 
Haute feuille on July 4. Ten ex-priests and some 
of their wives were present. On the first Lord's 
Day of August regular preaching services were 
inaugurated in a hall. These meetings were kept 
up until May, 1911. On September 8, Mr. Haute- 
feuille, who had recently been baptized, was solemn- 
ly set apart to the ministry of the Word. In the 
month following, Mr. Seddon secured a three years' 
lease on the house, No. 45 rue Raspail, Vanves 
(Seine), just outside of Paris, on the southwest, 
which became the headquarters of the work. It 
was known as "Ecole Biblique." Sunday preaching 
services were held at two places, with Bible school, 
and a meeting for mothers. 

A paper, the Messager Chretien, was published; 
and also a number of books, tracts and New Testa- 
ments have been translated and distributed. A 
large correspondence reached influential persons in 
France, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy. About fifty 
people were baptized. 

The outbreak of the war drove Mr. Seddon from 
Paris, and the work, which was already greatly 
hampered by internal difficulties, was suspended, 
whether to be resumed or not has yet to be deter- 
mined. 



BEGAN AND GREW 197 



Questions. 

1. Why was missionary organization delayed? 

2. Give the earliest discussions on the subject. 

3. Tell of the organization of the American 
Christian Missionary Society. 

4. Tell of the organization of the Christian 
Woman's Board of Missions. 

5. Tell of the organization of the Foreign 
Christian Missionary Society. 

6. Tell of the organization of the National 
Benevolent Association. 

7. Tell of the organization of the Board of 
Church Extension. 

8. Tell of the organization of the Board of 
Ministerial Relief. 

9. What of the idea of independent missions 
as related to the work of the societies? 

10. What of the independent work in England? 

11. What of the independent work in Canada? 

12. What of the independent work in Australia? 

13. What of the independent work in Japan? 

14. What of the independent work in France? 



XL 
FOUR GREAT LIEUTENANTS 



199 



OUTLINE— CHAPTER XI. 

1. Walter Scott. 

a. Early Life. 

b. To America. 

c. Conversion. 

d. Meets A. Campbell. 

e. Scott and Campbell Contrasted. 
/. As a Preacher. 

g. Death. 

2. "Raccoon" John Smith. 

a. Unique Character. 

6. Early Life. 

c. First Sermon. 

rf. Ordination. 

e. Children Burned. 

/. Abandons Denominationalism. 

g. Many-sided. 

h. As a Preacher. 

i. Our Daniel Boone. 

3. Isaac Errett. 

a. Man of Providence. 

b. Early Life. 

c. Editor "Christian Standard." 

d. A Good Man. 

e. A Courageous Man. 
/. An Ideal Leader. 

g. Defender of the Faith. 

200 



4. John William McGarvey. 

a. Early Life. 

b. In Bethany College. 

c. Ordination. 

d. To Lexington, Kentucky. 

e. Man of Courage. 
/. Bible Critic. 

g. Strong Preacher. 
h. Forceful Writer. 
i. Bible Teacher. 



201 



XL 

Four Great Lieutenants. 

Mr. Campbell was a matchless leader, but he 
always had about him a host of heroic helpers, and 
the story of his wonderful achievements can not be 
fully or fairly told without a brief look at a few 
of these men. 

a. Early Life. Mr. Scott 
i. Walter Scott wag bom in Moffat ^ Dumfrie- 

shire, Scotland, October 31, 1796. He was one of 
ten children. John Scott, his father, was a man 
of culture, and a musician of ability. His mother, 
Mary Innes Scott, was not only a brilliant woman, 
but she was as sweet and beautiful as the rose, and 
as sensitive. A sad illustration of this is seen in 
her tragic death. Her husband died suddenly while 
away from home, and so great was the shock when 
she heard of it that she died of a broken heart, and 
both were buried in a single grave. 

His parents early in his life recognized the 
talent of their son, and determined to give him the 
best educational advantages; and so, after careful 
academic training, he completed his education in 
Edinburgh University, and entered life's conflicts 
well equipped for the struggle. 

b. Comes to America. Through the influence 
of an uncle — George Innes — he emigrated to the 

202 



BEGAN AND GREW 203 

New World, landing in New York, July 7, 1818, 
in his twenty-second year, and began his career on 
the Faculty of a classical academy on Long Island. 
But, having tasted adventure, and liking it, he was 
soon on his way West to visit the vast regions 
beyond the Alleghany Mountains. With a com- 
panion of his own age he made on foot the long, 
rough journey of more than three hundred miles, 
reaching Pittsburgh, with tired limbs and sore feet, 
on the 7th of May, 1819. Here he found a fel- 
low-countryman, George Forrester, who gave him 
a place on the Faculty of his school. They were 
congenial spirits, and at once became fast friends, 
and fellow-students of the Bible. Mr. Forrester's 
religious life had been influenced by the Haldanes 
of Scotland, whose work was close akin to that 
to which young Scott was destined to devote his 
life. 

c. Conversion. Their joint study of the Book, 
not as controversialists, but with a burning desire 
to know the truth that they might live it, gave 
to the Scriptures a new meaning. It was no longer 
a repository of proof-texts from which to establish 
theological systems, or a jumble of gems from 
heaven, but it was an orderly development of the 
scheme of redemption, as much so as the text-books 
used in their classrooms. Mr. Scott soon had to 
give up infant baptism, which he had received from 
his pious Presbyterian parents ; nor was it long until 
both of them abandoned affusion altogether, and 
were buried with their Lord in baptism. 

d. Meets Alexander Campbell. In 1822, at 



204 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

the age of twenty-six, Mr. Scott first met Alex- 
ander Campbell. The Lord had made them for 
each other, and they seemed intuitively to recognize 
the fact, for from that moment a friendship and 
partnership in the work of the Master began which 
grew in depth and power till ended by death. 
They were by nature kindred spirits, and had been 
born and reared in the same religious atmosphere. 
Both loved the Bible with an unquenchable love, 
and were taxing every energy to know what it 
taught. Both were disgusted with human creeds, 
and were searching for something full and final as 
a bond of union for Christians. 

e. Scott and Campbell Contrasted. Dr. Rob- 
ert Richardson, one of Scott's students, contrasts the 
two men as follows : "While Mr. Campbell was 
fearless, self-reliant and firm, Mr. Scott was natu- 
rally timid, diffident and yielding; and, while the 
former was calm, steady and prudent, the latter 
was excitable, variable and precipitate. The one, 
like the north star, was ever in position, unaffected 
by terrestrial influences ; the other, like the magnetic 
needle, was often disturbed and trembling on its 
center, yet ever returning, or seeking to return, to 
its true direction. Both were nobly endowed with 
the power of higher reason — a delicate self-con- 
sciousness, a decided will, and a clear perception 
of truth. But in Mr. Campbell the understanding 
predominated; in Mr. Scott, the feelings; and, if 
the former excelled in imagination, the latter was 
superior in brilliancy of fancy. If the tendency of 
one was to generalize, to take wide and extended 



BEGAN AND GREW 205 

views, and to group a multitude of particulars under 
a single head or principle, that of the other was to 
analyze, to divide subjects into their particulars and 
consider their details. If one possessed the induc- 
tive power of the philosopher, the other had, in 
a more delicate musical faculty and more active 
ideality, a larger share of the attributes of the 
poet. In a word, in almost all those qualities of 
mind and character which might be regarded as 
differential or distinctive, they were singularly fitted 
to supply each other's wants, and to form a rare 
and delightful companionship. Nor were their dif- 
ferences in personal appearance and physical consti- 
tution less striking. Mr. Campbell was tall, vigorous 
and athletic. Mr. Scott was not above the average 
height, slender and rather spare in person, and 
possessed of little muscular strength. While the 
aspect of one was ever lively and cheerful even in 
repose, that of the other was abstracted, medita- 
tive, and sometimes had even an air of sadness. 
Their features, too, were very different. Mr. 
Campbell's face had no straight lines in it. Even 
his nose, already arched, was turned slightly to 
the right, and his eyes and hair were comparatively 
light. Mr. Scott's nose was straight; his lips rather 
full, but delicately chiseled; his eyes dark and lus- 
trous, full of intelligence and softness, and with- 
out the peculiar eagle glance so striking in Mr. 
Campbell, while his hair, clustering above his fine, 
ample forehead, was black as the raven's wing." 
William Baxter also contrasts them. He says: 
"In no sense were they rivals, any more than 



206 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

Moses and Aaron, or Paul and Silas; but, like 
them, with different gifts, devoting their lives to 
the accomplishment of the same glorious end. 
Campbell was always great and self-possessed; 
Scott, subject to great depression, and, consequently, 
unequal in his public efforts. But at times he knew 
a rapture which seemed almost inspiration, to which 
the former was a stranger. Campbell never fell 
below the expectation of his hearers; Scott fre- 
quently did, but there were times when he rose to 
a height of eloquence which the former never 
equaled. If Campbell at times reminded his hear- 
ers of Paul on Mars' Hill, commanding the atten- 
tion of the assembled wisdom of Athens, Scott in 
his happiest moments seemed more like Peter at 
Pentecost, with the cloven tongue of flame on his 
head, and the inspiration of the Spirit in his heart, 
while from heart-pierced sinners on every side rose 
the agonizing cry, 'Men and brethren, what shall 
we do?'" 

In these graphic pen-pictures of Mr. Campbell 
and his greatest lieutenant we get a good view of 
the men, and are impressed with their fitness for 
joint labors in a common cause. 

/. Scott as a Preacher. Mr. Scott was a 
great preacher, not only because of his gifts as a 
speaker, but because of his theme. Like Paul, he 
knew nothing but Christ and him crucified. Christ 
to him was the central sun around which all other 
truth revolved, and from which it received its light 
and life. "Shut your eyes to it," he said, "and 
Christianity is a most dark and perplexing scheme. 



BEGAN AND GREW 207 

Once behold it, and you behold the most certain 
and substantial argument for love to God and men." 
Fifty years later Isaac Errett said : "The most thor- 
oughly revolutionary element in Walter Scott's 
advocacy of reformation, and that which has proved 
most far-reaching in its influence, is just this con- 
cerning the central truth in Christianity. It not 
only shaped all his preaching, but it shaped the 
preaching and practice of reformers generally, and 
called the attention of the religious world at large 
to the fact that a person, and not a system of doc- 
trines, is the proper object of faith, and that faith 
in Jesus, and love for Jesus, and obedience to 
Jesus, is the grand distinction of Christianity." 

In 1830 he was on his favorite theme before a 
great audience in a grove near Wheeling, Virginia, 
and Mr. Campbell was among his hearers. His 
distinguished hearer, usually calm and self-composed, 
on this occasion was aroused; his eyes flashed, his 
face glowed, and his emotions became so intense 
that he shouted, "Glory to God in the highest !" 

As an evangelist Mr. Scott was at his best. 
God wanted him for this special work, and when 
endowing him for it he was lavish in his gifts. 
His warm heart, his musical voice, his chaste and 
charming language, his tender pathos, his winsome 
personality, his burning zeal, and his great theme, 
"The Messiahship," made him almost irresistible. 
And it was Scott, rather than Barton W. Stone, 
who struck the keynote of evangelism which has 
been so marked a characteristic among his brethren. 
Our corps of strong evangelists, led on by Charles 



208 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

Reign Scoville, and others almost as famous, next 
to the Apostles, get their inspiration from Walter 
Scott. 

His mind was analytical, and he so simplified 
a subject that all could understand. He told the 
people that the gospel in general was threefold: 
facts, commands and promises. The facts were to 
be believed, the commands to be obeyed, and the 
promises to be enjoyed. But in its specific applica- 
tion it was fivefold: (1) Faith to change the heart; 
(2) repentance to change the life; (3) baptism to 
change the state; (4) remission of sins to cleanse 
from guilt; (5) the gift of the Holy Spirit to help 
in the religious life, and make one a partaker of 
the divine nature. 

Near the close of 1855 Mr. Scott visited his 
old-time friend and colaborer in his home in Beth- 
any. He was cordially received, and his spirit was 
greatly refreshed. From early manhood these two 
true and strong men had stood shoulder to shoulder 
and heart to heart in one of the greatest struggles 
of Christendom, and they had seen victory perch 
upon the banner of Prince Jesus. And while life's 
sun was setting it was good for them that they 
could be together again, and in gratitude, not in 
pride, look back over the long way they had trav- 
eled together, and rejoice that they had been useful 
in the service of their Lord. 

g. Death. Mr. Scott died April 23, 1861, aged 
sixty-five years. Mr. Campbell said of him: "Next 
to my father, he was my most cordial and indefati- 
gable colaborer in the origin and progress of the 



BEGAN AND GREW 209 

present Reformation. His whole heart was in the 

work. He had a rich hope of the life everlasting. 

I knew him well. I knew him long. I loved him 

much. By the eye of faith and the eye of hope 

methinks I see him in Abraham's bosom." 

a. Unique Character. Mr. 

" « -. Smith was the most unique char- 

Jonn bmitn . ^ T * 

acter of his time. No one else 

was at all like him. He occupies a place altogether 
his own. This peculiar and undignified nickname 
is not a whit more peculiar than the man who wore 
it. But just why he should have received such a 
name is not clear, for he was never a hunter of 
anything, much less of raccoons. But in some way 
it was thrown at him, and it stuck, and perhaps he 
will never get rid of it, either in this world or in 
the world to come. And yet it must be admitted 
that if there ever was a name needing a distinguish- 
ing prefix, his was that name; for if all the John 
Smiths could be assembled in a single audience, it 
would be no mean multitude; or if marshaled under 
a single banner, it would make a small army. 

&. Early Life. Mr. Smith, the ninth of thir- 
teen children, was born in a little log cabin in East 
Tennessee, October 15, 1784. The library in this 
cabin consisted of three books: the Bible, the Con- 
fession of Faith, and a hymn-book. These books 
were supplemented by the wit and wisdom of his 
Irish mother, who stored his mind with legend, 
history and true principles. Occasionally a school- 
teacher came that way, and John was always one 
of his best pupils. 

14 



210 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

When John was twelve years old the father 
crossed the Cumberland Mountains and plunged 
deeper into the wilderness in search of cheaper 
land for his children, locating in a beautiful sec- 
tion known as Stockton's Valley. And soon after 
this John's young heart began to yearn for, and 
reach after, God. But Calvinism in its extremest 
form was the only religion that he could find. His 
logical mind turned from this, and he said: "Since 
my destiny is fixed and I can not change it, I need 
not give myself any concern. I have nothing to 
do." But his conclusion, though logical so far as 
Calvinism was concerned, did not satisfy his soul; 
and after the death of his mother in 1804, his 
spiritual agony became great, and he never rested 
until on the 26th day of December he was received 
into the Baptist Church, and on the day following 
was baptized. 

c. First Sermon. Preachers were scarce in 
those days, and the neighbors urged John to preach 
to them. But as he had received no strange call, 
something like that of the burning bush, he hesi- 
tated. But they would not take "No" for an 
answer, and finally he consented to make a talk. 
But, alas ! when he rose to address the large crowd, 
he w r as seized with "stage fright," and forgot 
everything he had to say. He fled from the house; 
but in the darkness outside he stumbled and fell. 
The shock of the fall restored his equilibrium, and 
he re-entered the room immediately, and delivered 
a thrilling address — the peculiar beginning of a 
wonderful ministry. 



BEGAN AND GREW 211 

d. Ordination. But he continued to wait for 
the strange, miraculous call. It came not. The 
brethren urged him to take up the work anyway; 
and he finally consented to be ordained. He then 
traveled far and wide, and his fame spread abroad 
so that he soon had calls enough for a dozen 
preachers. 

e. Children Burned. Not long after this 
occurred the saddest episode of his life. He sold 
his home for fifteen hundred dollars and went to 
Alabama in search of a new home. In 1814 he left 
his family in a little rented cabin and went out 
to select a location. But while he was away the 
cabin burned, and two of his children and all his 
money were consumed in the flames. The poor 
mother escaped, but her heart was broken, and she 
died, and was buried with the ashes of her children. 

With a sad heart and an empty purse, the father 
returned to Kentucky and continued to preach, but 
in a different tone. He knew that his little children 
were innocent and irresponsible, and he rebelled at 
the awful doctrine of infant damnation as taught 
by Calvinism. But his vision was only partially 
cleared. He saw the error of Calvinism, but he 
could not find its corresponding truth in the Bible. 
In the midst of a sermon he was so puzzled over 
this point that he stopped and said: "Brethren, 
something is wrong. I am in the dark; we are 
all in the dark; but how to lead you to the light, 
or to find the way myself, before God I know 
not." 

/. Abandons Denominationalism. But God 



212 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

saw his struggling child, and he came to his rescue. 
The Christian Baptist, edited by Alexander Camp- 
bell, was placed in his hands. This bold religious 
monthly was just the thing he needed. With sledge- 
hammer blows it dealt with the very problems 
which puzzled him. And so, the next year, 1824, 
when Mr. Campbell visited Kentucky, Smith met 
him, and communed much with him, and, as a 
result, he became a convert to his teachings concern- 
ing the ancient order of things. He thought his 
Baptist brethren, when they, too, saw the light, 
would go with him; but he was destined to disap- 
pointment. Instead, bigotry and prejudice waged 
a fierce war against him, and in 1830 a rupture 
occurred in their ranks, but a majority of the 
people went with Smith. The opposition brought 
out the best that was in him, so that he went every- 
where like a conquering hero. Converts were num- 
bered by the thousands, and new churches by the 
scores. In his zeal he hardly took time to eat or 
sleep, and the results of his labors were almost 
incredible. In reporting them for only a few 
months, he said to his wife, "Nancy, I have bap- 
tized six hundred sinners, and capsized fifteen hun- 
dred Baptists." 

g. Many-sided. Smith was a many-sided man. 
His brain was strong and clear, his common sense 
was remarkable, his heart was large and tender, his 
insight was like that of woman, his memory held 
all it got, his repartee and wit were the best that 
the Irish blood of his gifted mother could produce, 
and his courage and conscience were never sepa- 



BEGAN AND GREW 213 

rated in the many battles of his checkered life. 
The question with him was never whether a certain 
course was popular or unpopular, but was it right. 
Eljiah facing Ahab, and John before Herod, were 
fit types of this modern-day hero. When he broke 
with his Baptist brethren, many of them said to 
him: "Your friends will abandon you, you will 
get nothing for your preaching, your debts will 
press you to the earth, and eventually your home 
must be given up." His noble reply was: "Con- 
science is an article that I have never yet brought 
into the market; but if I should offer it for sale, 
Montgomery County, with all its lands and houses, 
would not be enough to buy it, much less that farm 
of one hundred acres." 

h. As a Preacher. But it is as a great preacher 
that Smith will be remembered. He knew the gos- 
pel, and was loyal to it; he knew man, and loved 
him; and God had been lavish in his gifts as a 
preacher. A single sermon is all that we can give. 
It was delivered at Crab Orchard, Kentucky, at a 
meeting of the Tate Creek Association. The house 
was so crowded that business could not be trans- 
acted, and Jacob Creath suggested that some one 
preach to the overflow in the grove. Two men 
tried, but they could not hold the people, and they 
were beginning to disperse. Smith was urged to 
speak. He arose and faced the restless multitude 
which was rapidly leaving the stand, and his first 
work was to stop them. Raising his rich, mellow 
voice so that all could hear, he said: "Stay, friends, 
and hear what the great Augustine said. Augus- 



214 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

tine wished to see three things before he died: 
Rome in her glory, Paul on Mars' Hill, and Jesus 
in the flesh." A few sat down, but many moved on. 

In louder tones he cried: "Will you not stay and 
hear what the great Cato said: Cato repented 
of three things before his death: first, that he had 
ever spent an idle day; second, that he had ever 
gone on a voyage by water when he might have 
made the same journey by land; and, third, that 
he had ever told the secrets of his bosom to a 
woman." Many more were seated. 

But he continued: "Come, friends, and hear 
what the great Thales thanked the gods for. 
Thales thanked the gods for three things: first, 
that he was endowed with reason, and was not a 
brute; second, that he was a Greek, and not a 
Barbarian; and, third, that he was a man, and not 
a woman." By this time all were seated and the 
sermon began. 

His theme was redemption. His text was Ps. 
3:9: "He sent redemption to his people ; he hath 
commanded his covenant for ever; holy and rever- 
end is his name." His analysis was threefold: 
(1) Redemption as conceived; (2) redemption as 
applied; (3) redemption as completed. He seemed 
inspired for the occasion. His voice like a trumpet 
reached and thrilled the most distant hearer, and his 
thought swept the audience like a storm sweeps 
the sea. The people crowded closer to hear him, 
and some who could find neither sitting nor stand- 
ing room, climbed the trees, so that even the forest 
swayed to and fro as if under the magic spell of 



BEGAN AND GREW 215 

the mighty preacher. And when he reached his 
climax in the third division, and portrayed the final 
glory of the redeemed, every heart was filled with 
emotion, every eye swam in tears of joy, every 
face was radiant with hope, and at the close one 
loud "Amen" ascended into the heavens. 

i. Our Daniel Boone. Next to Campbell and 
Stone, John Smith did more for primitive Chris- 
tianity in Kentucky than any other man. Grafton 
pays him a true and graceful tribute when he says: 
"John Smith was a typical pioneer. What Daniel 
Boone and David Crockett were to the early social 
and political life of Kentucky and Tennessee, John 
Smith was to religious society of that period. ,, He 
died February 28, 1868. 

a. Man of Providence. Mr. 

3. Isaac Errett -r? u i . 

° Errett, by common consent, 

stands in the front rank as a preacher and writer 
of the Restoration Movement. He reached this 
position early, and maintained it throughout a long 
and brilliant life. By many he is regarded as the 
Joshua who took up the work of Alexander Camp- 
bell, our Moses ; or the Elisha upoi; whose shoulders 
the mantle of our Elijah fell. They think that, like 
Esther, he came to the throne for a special work, 
and, like that beautiful and brave queen, he did it 
nobly and well. 

b. Early Life. Henry Errett, his father, was 
an Irishman, and his mother was an Englishwoman. 
They came to New York about the time the 
Campbells began their work in Pennsylvania, and 
were among the firstfruits of the work in the 



216 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

great metropolis, the father being an elder in the 
first church of that city. Isaac was born January 
2, 1820. The father died five years later, leaving 
the training of the son to the mother. In his 
twelfth year he became a Christian, and when he 
did so, like Andrew, he sought his older brother, 
Russell, and the two were baptized together by 
Robert McLaren, an elder of the church in Pitts- 
burgh, where the family was then living. His 
educational advantages were poor, but, being bright 
and ambitious, he made the best of them. He 
became a printer, and before he was seventeen 
years old was tendered the position of editor of the 
paper on which he was working. But he declined 
the honor, and became a teacher. Neither did this 
suit him; and so in 1840 he became a preacher, 
beginning in his twentieth year. He soon attained 
distinction, and was called to places of honor and 
responsibility by his brethren. He preached for 
the churches at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; North 
Bloomfield, Warren and New Lisbon, Ohio, and 
at Muir, Ionia and Detroit, Michigan. He was 
corresponding secretary, first for Ohio, and after- 
wards for the American Christian Missionary So- 
ciety. In 1873 he urged the beginning of work in 
the foreign field ; but the brethren were slow to act, 
and while they were waiting, he turned to the 
women and helped them to launch their great work 
in 1874. The men, stimulated by this example, 
organized the Foreign Christian Missionary Society 
one year later, with Mr. Errett as president, which 
position he held until his death. 



BEGAN AND GREW 217 

c. Editor of "Christian Standard." But Mr. 
Errett never found the special work for which the 
Lord raised him up until 1865, when he became 
editor of the Christian Standard. As an eagle 
among the clouds, he was now in his proper atmos- 
phere. The editorial chair, rather than the pulpit, 
was his throne. Though a great preacher, it was 
as a writer that he exerted his widest influence. 
Horace Greeley was not more naturally an editor 
than was Isaac Errett. Grafton says he "possessed 
an innate genius for editorship, a sixth sense by 
which he discerned the people's needs. ,, Alexander 
Campbell had necessarily given his life and energies 
to truth as truth, and Isaac Errett was needed to 
give his to this truth in its relation to human needs. 
The one had rediscovered a mine of rarest wealth, 
and the other was to develop this mine for the good 
of man. 

d. He Was a Good Man. Like Barnabas, he 
was "a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit/' 
and, like Enoch, he "walked with God." Jesus 
Christ was supreme in his life, and he strove day 
by day to be a loyal and loving subject. The 
heroes who stood with the Campbells in the early 
days were men of deep personal pity, and so were 
most of those of the later days, but not all. A 
few were so absorbed in the intellectual side of 
the plea that they failed to come in close touch 
with its spiritual significance. To all such Mr. 
Errett's life was both a rebuke and an example. 
"He was great in his goodness, and good in his 
greatness." 



218 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

e. He Was a Man of Courage. When he 
began his leadership, extreme conservatism and 
extreme radicalism, like two robbers, crouched on 
either side of his pathway, and threatened his prog- 
ress, and he was always under the fire of one or 
the other, and often under both. But, like a kite 
struggling with a contrary wind, he rose higher 
and soared more grandly because of opposition. 
But, besides these enemies from within, he had 
to meet those from without. After the death of 
Mr. Campbell many of these prophesied that his 
work would speedily fail; and they bent their 
every energy to bring to pass the fulfillment of the 
prophecy. While the battle was on he was always 
in the forefront; but when it was over and the 
victory won he was ever ready to treat with 
clemency his former foes. 

/. He Was an Ideal Leader. Leaders, like 
poets, are born, not made. When Mr. Errett came 
into prominence and went to the wheel the sea was 
stormy, and there were dangers on every hand. 
But with a clear vision and steady nerve, and with 
the spirit of a true pilot, he guided the ship safely 
to port. In this work he reminds one of Paul as 
he rescued the infant Church from the Judaizing 
teachers and blind bigots of the first century. His 
special mission was to maintain the integrity of the 
plea of the Campbells, and hold the Restoration 
Movement to its original purpose ; and for a quarter 
of a century he did it most nobly. 

In the controversies over the music question, the 
communion question, and the question of slavery, he 



BEGAN AND GREW 219 

showed himself a masterful leader and sane coun- 
selor. 

This is seen again on the union question. Let 
it not be forgotten that his was not the work of 
construction, but interpretation. Mr. Campbell had 
done the former, and he was to do the latter. He 
was to see the plea in its entirety: not only in 
form, but in spirit; not only as a theory, but as a 
practice. The plea for union was not the union 
of the Bible, but a pseudo-union which would not 
disturb denominationalism. It was seen in union 
revivals where it was regarded sectarian to give in 
the language of the Apostles their answers to 
inquiring sinners seeking the way of the Lord. The 
voice of the Bible was to be suppressed whenever 
that voice clashed with the popular views of Chris- 
tendom. Mr. Errett kindly but firmly replied: "Be 
as liberal as you please with what is your own, but 
be careful how you give away what is not yours, 
but God's. There is nothing that is merely human 
which we ought not to surrender, if need be, for 
the sake of union, but we can not yield God's com- 
mands." 

g. Defender of the Faith. The same pres- 
sure was brought to bear from another angle. 
Some of his own brethren urged that he was nar- 
row, exclusive and uncharitable, and thus hindering 
the plea. They intimated that the baptismal ques- 
tion should be ignored, and the pious unimmersed 
should be received into full fellowship. His answer 
was: 

"We are responsible for the way we deal with 



220 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

God's truth, but not for the results of faithfulness 
to our convictions. But we wish to say with all 
emphasis that we believe this to be a mistake. At 
the beginning of the plea of the Campbells for 
union, it was unembarrassed by any of this so-called 
exclusiveness. They were Presbyterians. They 
sought the union of professed Christians without 
regard to immersion, and without the rejection of 
infant baptism. Their effort was a signal failure. 
The dear pious people, who were so eulogized for 
superior spiritual worth, and pronounced to be so 
'loyal in heart and purpose/ turned a deaf ear to 
the plea for union. . . . But after the champions of 
this movement were led to surrender infant mem- 
bership and affusion, and planted themselves on the 
ground we now occupy, their plea began at once to 
assert great power, and within fifty years has met 
with a success that has hardly a parallel in religious 
movements. We have no reason, even on the 
ground of expediency, to change our ground. We 
therefore say to our brethren, in view of every con- 
sideration of truth, consistency, charity and expe- 
diency, stand firm; diminish not a word. As the 
grounds of difference are narrowed, there will be 
strong efforts, under the plea of charity, to bring 
about a surrender of gospel teaching concerning 
baptism. Pedobaptists are bent on forcing this 
issue. In vain we tell them that they can easily, 
without a surrender of conscience, agree to that 
which they and we alike accept as valid baptism. 
This is scouted by them. They are bent on classify- 
ing baptism with things indifferent. 



BEGAN AND GREW 221 

"We will yield to the prejudices and preferences 
of any and all, and sacrifice all cherished habits, 
tastes and expediencies. But in regard to the faith 
and practice revealed in the New Testament, we 
must be sternly uncompromising. If the battle must 
come on this question of baptism, there we shall 
stand on apostolic ground, and repeat, day and 
night, without ceasing, 'One Lord, one faith, one 
baptism.' " 

Thus for twenty-five years of the most critical 
history of the Restoration Movement, Mr. Errett, 
its recognized leader, with pen and tongue, held it 
to the open sea; and we are largely indebted to him 
for the gratifying fact that the ship did not founder 
upon the reefs of unscriptural practices and human 
dogmas. Mr. Errett died December 19, 1888, in 
his sixty-ninth year. 

a. Early Life. No man 

4 ' M h cGa^e liam am ° ng US St °° d higher ' and WaS 
more generally trusted, than J. 

W. McGarvey. He was born in Hopkinsville, 

Kentucky, March 1, 1829, and died in Lexington, 

Kentucky, October 6, 1911, in his eighty-third 

year. His father was an Irishman, and came to 

America when a young man. His mother, a Miss 

Thomson, of old Virginia stock, was born and 

reared near Georgetown, Kentucky. 

b. In Bethany College. In 1839 the family 

moved to Tremont, Illinois, where the foundation of 

his education was well laid in a local academy. In 

April, 1847, he entered the Freshman class of 

Bethany College, and in July, 1850, he graduated, 



222 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

as one of the honor men, delivering the Greek 
oration. In 1848 he gave his heart to God, and was 
baptized by Professor Pendleton, and at once deter- 
mined to devote his life to the ministry of the 
Word. 

c. Ordination. The family having removed to 
Fayette, Missouri, he went from Bethany to that 
place, where he taught a school for boys one year. 
At a call of the Fayette Church, he gave up the 
school, and in September, 1851, was ordained as a 
preacher. In 1853 he accepted the work at Dover, 
Missouri, where he remained nine years, spending 
much of his time in extensive tours over the State. 
He also had five public debates during this time. 

d. To Lexington, Kentucky. In 1862 he 
took up the work in Lexington, Kentucky. During 
this year he published his "Commentary on Acts," 
a work of great merit. In 1865 he was elected 
professor of sacred history in the College of the 
Bible at Lexington. After thirty years' service he 
was made president of the college, which position he 
held to the day of his death. 

e. He Was a Man of Courage. He was a man 
of convictions, and ever ready to enter the lists 
against all who would assail what he believed to 
be true. Had he been born a thousand years earlier 
he likely would have been in the vanguard of those 
who, under Syrian suns, were struggling to rescue 
the sacred trophies of the cross from the hands of 
infidels. Or, if he had lived in the first century, he 
would likely have stood arm in arm and heart to 
heart with Peter and Paul in the earlier battles of 



BEGAN AND GREW 223 

the faith. Paul's description of the Christian sol- 
dier (Eph. 6:11-19) was never more faithfully 
illustrated than in himself, in Martin Luther, and 
in Pres. J. W. McGarvey. His courage was not 
that of the coarse bully, as some have thought, but 
it was the courage of a calm and conscientious hero, 
in perfect equipoise, responding to the stern call of 
battle. "If I were floating on a plank in mid- 
ocean," he said, "and a man should try to take it 
from me, I would fight for my life. ,, 

/. He Was an Eminent Bible Critic. He 
stood like a mighty Gibraltar against the waves of 
destructive criticism, and saved the Book from their 
furious onslaughts. But for the work of this 
sturdy man, whom no considerations could swerve 
a hairbreadth, what might have been our condi- 
tion to-day? He waded through volumes of intri- 
cate study, and familiarized himself with every 
phase of German philosophy, that he might know 
both sides of the question. During this investiga- 
tion, embracing the period between his sixtieth and 
seventy-fifth year, when many feel that it is time 
to sheathe the sword and turn over the fight to 
others, he would often come from his study, 
stretch his arms, take a deep breath and exclaim, 
"I feel as though I had been in a struggle with a 
mighty giant !" And the time is not distant when 
the entire religious world will honor him as the 
leading defender of the faith. From 1893 to 1911 
he conducted a department in the Christian Stand- 
ard, "Biblical Criticism/' which has been of great 
value. 



224 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

g. He Was a Strong Preacher. Who that 
ever heard him will ever forget his sermons? After 
spending the week in his classroom one would think 
his students would want to hear some one else on 
the Lord's Day; but not so. In the large dining- 
room where most of the young preachers boarded, 
this question came up every Sunday morning: 
"Where are you going to church to-day ?" And the 
answer usually was: "If I knew Lard would be on 
his high horse [Moses E. Lard was preaching at 
Main Street and McGarvey at Broadway], I would 
go to Main Street; but as there is doubt about this, 
I will go to Broadway, for 'Little Mac' never disap- 
points us." When Lard was at himself, he was a 
powerful preacher; but, like all men of moods, he 
was not always "at himself"; but McGarvey, while 
he often preached great sermons, never fell below 
a lofty level. His sermons were not ornate, but 
they were lucid unfoldings of the Book. They 
flooded man's way with light, and inspired him to 
walk in it. His language was simple enough for a 
primer, and his sentences were condensed like tele- 
grams. He was easy to hear and hard to forget. 

h. He Was a Forceful Writer. He was con- 
cise and clear. He said what he meant, and meant 
what he said. One might not agree with him, but 
he never misunderstood him. He often used a 
sharp pen, and woe to the antagonist who got in 
his way. He wrote voluminously, and was always 
read. His books are standards as expositions of 
the Scriptures, and as a defense of the Book against 
infidel criticism. 



BEGAN AND GREW 225 

i. But He Was Pre-eminently a Bible 
Teacher. Here he did his greatest work. The 
classroom was his throne, and never did a king 
reign more naturally, more royally and more profit- 
ably than did he. He knew what he taught, and 
taught what he knew. There was nothing hazy 
about him. He never left the student dangling in 
the air, and wondering what he meant. He placed 
his feet upon a rock and made him feel that his 
foundation was sure. When, in death, he met his 
Master, he could safely say, "I never weakened the 
faith of any young man entrusted to me." 

His knowledge of the Bible was wonderful. As 
one of the many students who sat at his feet, this 
writer can say that he never heard him read a les- 
son in the classroom, either from the Old Testament 
or the New: he always recited the Scriptures. He 
seemed to know them "by heart." When he visited 
the Holy Land he kept ahead of his guide, and 
often knew locations better than he. As a Bible 
student, both in general and detailed knowledge, 
perhaps he has had no peer since the days of inspira- 
tion. The London Times said: "In all probability 
John W. McGarvey is the ripest Bible scholar on 
earth." 

And behold the result: His students, famous for 
their loyalty to the Lord and usefulness in his King- 
dom, are found in every land, telling the "Old, Old 
Story"; and though their teacher rests from his 
labors, his works do follow him. 

Brother McGarvey died in Lexington, Kentucky, 
October 6, 1911, in his eighty-third year. 
13 



226 HOW THE DISCIPLES BEGAN AND GREW 



Questions. 

1. Sketch the early life of Scott. 

2. Give Richardson's contrast of Scott and 
Campbell. 

3. Give Baxter's contrast of Scott and Camp- 
bell. 

4. What was his favorite theme? 

5. Was it Stone or Scott who shaped our 
evangelism ? 

6. What was his true element? 

7. Sketch Smith's early life. 

8. Tell of the death of his wife and children, 
and the effect on his life. 

9. Tell of his wonderful work. 

10. What did Grafton say about him? 

11. Tell of his great sermon. 

12. Sketch the early life of Errett. 

13. Give three strong elements of his character. 

14. Describe him as a defender of the faith. 

15. Sketch the early life of McGarvey. 

16. Give five characteristic elements of his 
character. 



XII. 

RETROSPECT, PROSPECT, 
DANGERS AND DUTIES 



16 227 



OUTLINE— CHAPTER XII. 

1. Retrospect. 

a. Proper Division of the Bible. 

b. Deity of Jesus. 

c. Faith and Opinion. 

d. Faith Not Doctrinal, but Personal. 

e. Rule of Faith and Practice. 
/. Conversion. 

g. Bible Names. 

h. The Holy Spirit. 

i. Restoration of Ordinances. 

/. Bible Schools. 

k. Christian Union. 

/. Evangelism. 

2. Prospect. 

a. Wonderful Century. 
&. Picture. 

3. Dangers. 

a. Crystallization. 

b. Compromise. 

c. False Tests of Fellowship. 

d. Ignoring True Tests of Fellowship. 

e. The Childless Church. 

4. Duties. 

a. Advertisement. 

b. Indoctrination. 

c. Co-operation. 

d. Consecration. 

e. Loyalty. 

228 



XII. 

Retrospect, Prospect, Dangers and Duties. 

A people who can grow from to 1,500,000 
adult communicants in a single century, and that the 
nineteenth, must be of interest to those who would 
know the causes back of large results. Perhaps 
there has been no such growth since the apostolic 
age. What is the principle permeating this growth? 
And what are the points emphasized by the work- 
ers? And what is the outlook for the future? Let 
us devote this closing chapter to a twofold review — 
retrospective and prospective — that we may be able 
to answer these questions. 

The principle involved was 
e rospec one ^ ^ loftiest that ever 

animated men: it was an unselfish attempt to 
restore primitive Christianity. At great cost, and 
with no material reward in view, these brave men, 
despite the greatest difficulties, began the search for 
the old paths. They would see just where Christ 
and his Apostles trod, and, faithfully following their 
footprints, they would give to the world of to-day 
the Church of the first century. 

The points emphasized in their search were 
numerous and vital. The principal ones were: 

a. The Proper Division of the Bible. The 
main slogan of these old path-seekers was, "Where 

229 



230 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

the Bible speaks, we speak; where the Bible is 
silent, we are silent," and never were men more 
faithful to a motto. With them what the Bible 
said was infinitely more important than what men 
said about the Bible. They longed for new light, 
and when it came they welcomed it and walked in 
it. Mr. Campbell's fine figure, representing the 
Patriarchal age as the starlight, the Jewish age as 
the moonlight, and the Christian age as the sun- 
light, has been invaluable, not only to his own 
followers, but also to the religious world at large. 
The old Book was a tangled skein until they 
discovered this clue. The New Testament was 
fourfold in its divisions: The first four books were 
history, and told about the Christ; the fifth was 
the book of conversions, and told the sinner how to 
appropriate the Saviour; the twenty-one Epistles 
were addressed to Christians, and told them how 
to live for the Christ; and the last book was 
prophetic, and told of the reward in store for those 
who were faithful to the end. 

b. The Deity of Jesus. In the study of the 
Book they soon saw that Christ was its center. He 
was to the spiritual universe what the sun was to 
the material world — the center around which all 
lesser lights revolved, and from which they received 
their light. Christianity was to be distinctly Christ- 
ocentric. At that time the Church was credocen- 
tric, for a man's standing in the Church depended 
far more on his acceptance of the creed than on 
his loyalty to the Lord. 

c. Faith and Opinion. The difference between 



BEGAN AND GREW 231 

faith and opinion was clearly shown and strongly 
emphasized. Salvation was a matter of faith and 
rested on facts, and not a matter of speculations 
concerning these facts. In the realm of opinion 
men had the largest possible liberty, but in faith 
they were to be one. 

d. Faith Not Doctrinal, but Personal. On 
this vital point these men stood alone in their day. 
With them it was a personal Saviour for a personal 
sinner. Men were not to believe in faith, repent- 
ance or baptism — true dogmas regarding the Christ 
— but they were to believe in the Christ, and do 
these things because he commanded them. When 
the soldier believes in his leader, he will obey, 
whether he understands him or not. 

e. Rule of Faith and Practice. The substi- 
tution of the Scriptures for all human confessions 
of faith, as the true rule of faith and practice, was 
one of the wisest things done by these pioneers. 
They were not opposed to publishing their views on 
all important questions. Mr. Campbell did much 
work of this kind in the Christian Baptist, the 
Harbinger, and in the "Christian System/' but these 
publications were never regarded as a creed or a 
confession of faith. The Bible, and the Bible alone, 
was the only and all-sufficient rule of faith and 
practice. 

/. Conversion. The darkness surrounding this 
question one hundred years ago can hardly be imag- 
ined to-day. Every conversion was a miracle. 
Man was totally depraved, and could not think a 
good thought, or do a good deed. Calvinism in its 



232 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

extreme form had paralyzed men. The Bible was 
a good book, but it was a "dead letter" until made 
alive by the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit; 
just as the heart of the sinner could not act until 
energized by this same power. But these true 
teachers taught that in conversion we are active, not 
passive, and that we turn to God, which is con- 
version, or refuse to turn, not because of inability, 
or because of the presence or absence of miraculous 
power, but because of our own choice in the matter. 

g. Bible Names for Bible Things. It is well 
known that our fiercest disputes about Christianity 
are about what the Bible does not say, rather than 
about what it does say. Few things are more essen- 
tial to the restoration of the primitive faith than 
pure speech. So long as the earth had one speech, 
men were united. Knowing this, these men rejected 
the language of Ashdod and chose that of Canaan. 
They were suspicious that if the word was not in 
the Bible, the idea it represented was not there. 
Therefore, they had as little as possible to do with 
the jargon of speculative theology, and plead for 
Bible words for Bible ideas. 

h. The Holy Spirit. On this deep question 
dogmatism and speculation gave place to caution 
and reverence. It was argued that the work of the 
Spirit was specially the work of God, and he 
would attend to that whether we understood it or 
not. It was also contended that in conversion the 
Spirit operated through the Word, and that after 
conversion he took up his abode in the heart. Mr, 
Campbell says: "We can not separate the Spirit 



BEGAN AND GREW 233 

and Word of God, and ascribe so much power to 
the one and so much to the other; for so did not 
the Apostles. Whatever the Word does, the Spirit 
does; and whatever the Spirit does in the work of 
converting men, the Word does. We neither 
believe nor teach abstract Spirit nor abstract Word 
— but Word and Spirit, Spirit and Word." The 
Spirit was not a command to be preached, but a 
promise to be received. 

i. Restoration of the Ordinances. In the 
restoration of the two New Testament ordinances — 
Baptism and the Supper — great good was accom- 
plished. Both were simple and significant. As it 
is the fate of men to die, be buried, and rise again, 
so the first ordinance shows that the figuratively 
dead man — dead to his past sins — is buried in a 
symbolic grave, and is raised again to walk in the 
newness of life. The second ordinance is the cen- 
tral thought in the worship on the Lord's Day, and 
keeps fresh in the mind the great cost of our salva- 
tion. God would have us not only hear the truth, 
but see it. 

/. Bible Schools. In 1849, when the American 
Christian Missionary Society was organized, A. S. 
Hayden and Isaac Errett issued an appeal in the 
interest of Bible schools, and the Convention 
appointed a committee to look after the work. The 
growth has been marvelous and the enthusiasm con- 
tagious, so that all the churches have felt its 
power and shared its blessings. Great schools, thor- 
oughly organized, and equipped with the best liter- 
ature, are now the order of the day. The school at 



234 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

Canton, Ohio, led by P. H. Welshimer, is at the head 
of the procession, and is known the world over. 

k. Christian Union. An attempt to restore 
the Apostolic Church necessarily involved the plea 
for union, for that Church was united. The 
Saviour taught and prayed for the union of his fol- 
lowers, and the Apostles preached and practiced it. 
The Restoration Movement began as a protest 
against division, and its great battles and splendid 
victories have been fought and won under this 
banner. "United we stand, divided we fall," is a 
maxim not less true in religion than in the family 
and the nation. "We must all hang together, or 
we will all hang separately/' said one of the signers 
of the Declaration of Independence. 

/. Evangelism. No people since the days of 
inspiration ever so stressed evangelism as did our 
fathers. They looked upon the sinner as a man 
overboard at sea, and the gospel as the lifeboat, and 
his only hope, and with all possible power they 
went to his rescue. They urged him not to wait 
for some additional power, for the lifeboat was 
sufficient, and not to strive to make themselves 
better, for Christ came to seek and save the lost. 
Such a message aroused hope in the heart of the 
sinner, and lent lightness to the feet and eloquence 
to the lips of the preacher, hence their unparalleled 
success. They taught that in becoming a Christian 
three great changes were necessary: a change of 
heart produced by faith, a change of life produced 
by repentance, and a change of state or relationship 
produced by baptism. They illustrated this point in 



BEGAN AND GREW 235 

a forcible and unforgettable way. They compared 
it to the marriage relation, with Christ as the Bride- 
groom and the Church as the Bride, a figure now 
so familiar as to need no explanation. 

Looking back over the past, we see that these 
twelve points received special emphasis at the 
hands of the workers. 

a. Wonderful Century. 

2. Prospect "Watchman, what of the night ?" 

is an Old Testament query as pertinent to-day as 
when it was first uttered; and .-the answer from the 
pen of the poet is as true as it is beautiful: 

"Out of the shadows of night 
The world is rolling into light; 
It is daybreak everywhere." 

Jehovah has wrought wonders during the cen- 
tury including the history of this Restoration Move- 
ment. He has almost made the world over. 
Nature's forces have been discovered and brought 
from their hiding-places and harnessed in the serv- 
ice of man. In the social, scientific, educational 
and political spheres he has turned the world 
upside down. And Christianity has kept pace with 
these onward strides. Never was the presence of 
our King more manifest, and never were his state- 
ly steppings more royal and grand. Let us look for 
a moment on one of the many illustrations of this 
glorious procession: 

b. Picture. At the beginning of the century 
we behold one lone man in an "upper room" in 
the house of a modest farmer — Mr. Welch — near 
Washington, Pennsylvania. This man, Thomas 



236 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

Campbell, a cultured and consecrated Presbyterian 
preacher, with his heart bleeding over divided 
Christendom, is writing "A Declaration and 
Address/' which was submitted to a group of sym- 
pathizing friends in a rural community. They liked 
it; and on September 7, 1808, they decided to pub- 
lish it to the world. It proved to be good seed in 
good soil, and has yielded a harvest of which only 
our God could be the author. On May 4, 1811, 
Brush Run Church— literally a church in the wilder- 
ness — was organized with thirty members. This 
little band has grown wonderfully. They have out- 
stripped their religious neighbors, though old, rich, 
strong, and well organized. Since 1850 five of the 
leading Protestant bodies have increased less than 
fivefold, but these have increased tenfold, and now 
have nine thousand preachers, thirteen thousand 
churches, and more than a million and a half mem- 
bers. And within the last year it has been dis- 
covered that in Russia and Germany there are one 
hundred thousand, unknown before, who stand 
with them in their peculiar work. No such growth 
has been seen since the New Testament age. Tn 
the light of this history may it not be that the 
twentieth century will see primitive Christianity 
restored, and the whole world bowing at the feet 
of the Redeemer? 

As we look into the future, our vision sub- 
divides itself into dangers and duties. 

a. Crystallization. Since it 

is true that history often repeats 

itself, we are now nearing a critical period in our 



BEGAN AND GREW 237 

progress. The history of religious movements is 
that when about our age, and often earlier, they 
lose sight of their true principles, and crystallize. 
Lutheranism is an example. The fundamental prin- 
ciples taught by Luther, if faithfully followed, 
would have restored the primitive Church. The 
same is true of other reformers. It becomes us, 
therefore, as students of history and friends of the 
Christ, to be warned into safety by such examples. 
Our message is fixed and final, and adapted to all 
ages, peoples and conditions, but our methods are 
subject to change at any time. 

b. Compromise. In Neh. 2:6 is a graphic pic- 
ture of this danger. When Nehemiah would rebuild 
the walls of Jerusalem he encountered determined 
enemies. They first used force; and when it failed, 
they resorted to ridicule; and when this failed, they 
offered a compromise. 

Could a parallel be more striking? Are we not 
striving to rebuild spiritual Jerusalem? and have 
we not met similar opposition? And now that we 
have become numerous and strong, are we not 
being asked to compromise the principles of our 
great plea? And, alas! is it not true that we have 
among us those who seem inclined to do it? And 
would not compromise be as ruinous now as it 
would have been then? The compromise of truth 
always and everywhere means sure and deserved 
ruin. 

c. False Tests of Fellowship. All Christians 
share in common the great salvation in Christ. 
They are in fellowship with him, and should be 



238 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

in fellowship with each other. Therefore the terms 
of salvation and the terms of fellowship should be 
one and the same. It should not be more difficult 
to enter heaven than to enter the Church. Faith 
in the Christ and obedience to him are the condi- 
tions of salvation, and they are the sole and suffi- 
cient tests of fellowship among his followers. 

In the early Church there was trouble at this 
point (Rom. 14: 1; 1 Cor. 6: 12). Then they per- 
tained to meats, drinks and ceremonies; but now 
they usually pertain to musical instruments in the 
song service and methods of work. Had such ques- 
tions been made tests of fellowship then, the 
Church would not have been one; and if we make 
them tests of fellowship, we must divide. Conse- 
crated common sense and Christian love and for- 
bearance must settle such questions in the court of 
expediency. 

A vital principle is involved here. As the glory 
of Christianity is in the blending of justice and 
mercy, so the glory of the Church is in the blend- 
ing of unity and freedom. Catholicism has union, 
but it has it at the sacrifice of freedom. We want 
union, but if we can get it only with the loss of 
liberty, the price is too great. But this is not the 
price. We can have union in faith and liberty in 
opinion; and when we have them as the early 
Christians did, there will be no divisions over ques- 
tions of expediency, and the Church of that day 
will be reproduced in the Church of our day. 

d. Ignoring True Tests of Fellowship. That 
there is real danger at this point no thoughtful man 



BEGAN AND GREW 239 

can deny. We are being told by a few would-be 
liberal leaders that union can never be brought 
about by the destruction of denominationalism, but 
rather by a broader and more liberal denomination- 
alism; and that we are too narrow and legalistic on 
the conditions of church membership. They grow 
sentimental in their exhortation, and tell us that one 
church is as good as another; that it really makes 
no difference what one believes, if only his heart is 
right, and that we must not be too tenacious about 
the inspiration of the Book, the deity of the Lord, 
or the miracles and ordinances. They would have 
us abandon the plea which has given us our place 
and power in the world, and take a position as one 
of the great evangelical denominations of Christen- 
dom. We must kindly but firmly set our faces like 
flint against all such teaching, and be true to our 
Lord and Master, regardless of what men think and 
say of us. 

e. The Childless Church. This danger is not 
peculiar to us, but it threatens all religious bodies 
alike. Our Bible schools are thronged by thousands 
old enough to become Christians, who do not attend 
church, and are not urged by their parents and 
teachers to do so. Looking over an average audi- 
ence, we see the aged, the middle-aged, the grand- 
parents and the parents, but not the children. The 
old-fashioned family pew, with the whole family 
in it, is a thing of the past. The Church of to-day 
is a childless Church. And what can we expect of 
this Church but as in the case of a childless fam- 
ily, utter and unavoidable extinction in the near 



240 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

future? The school, the army and the family must 
be constantly recruited from the young, or time will 
extinguish them, and the same is true of the 
Church. Here is a question well worthy of the best 
thought of all who love our Lord: How can we 
induce the young to attend the preaching and com- 
munion services of the Church? 

. a. Advertisement. There is 

no religious body in the land, of 
anything like our proportions, so little known as 
ours; and yet we believe there is none other which 
the world so much needs to know. And the fault 
for this condition of things is altogether our own. 
Our conduct here is not only short-sighted, but sin- 
ful. Unitarians, Adventists and Scientists flood the 
world with free literature from their best writers, 
so that all who desire knowledge of them can get 
it at their doors, and that without money and with- 
out price. Money wisely spent here would bring 
large results. 

&. Indoctrination. It is said that not more 
than 25 per cent, of our people understand our 
plea. If this is true, our work can never be 
done without some effective plan for the education 
of the other 75 per cent. They must be made 
to understand it, or they can not appreciate it 
and work for it. In our early history this was 
not true. Then not less than 75 per cent, under- 
stood it, and could make others understand it. Our 
preachers preached it, our Bible-school teachers 
taught it, and our papers published it. It was a 
common thing then to find a well-worn copy of the 



BEGAN AND GREW 241 

New Testament in the pocket of the lawyer, the 
doctor, the merchant and the farmer, and they were 
able and anxious to teach others. Our children 
then were not like the bright girl who, when asked 
what she believed, answered, "I believe what my 
church believes/' And when asked what her 
church believed, she said, "My church believes what 
I believe/' And when asked what they both 
believed, she replied, "We both believe the same 
thing." Such a girl, had her teachers done their 
duty, would never have been caught in this embar- 
rassing dilemma. 

c. Co-operation. The fact that our work is a 
movement w 7 ithin the Church for the restoration of 
its former unity should make clear our relationship 
to all who are striving to serve the Lord. We are 
not to regard them as enemies, but as allies. Nar- 
row and bitter critics existed in the time of Mr. 
Campbell, as they exist to-day, and they accused 
him of compromising the truth by admitting that 
there were Christians other than those immediately 
connected with his work. Replying to one of these, 
he said: "But who is a Christian? I answer, 
every one that believes in his heart that Jesus of 
Nazareth is the Messiah, the Son of God; repents 
of his sins, and obeys him in all things according 
to his measure of knowledge of his will." 

In the great heart of this noble man there was 
room for the appreciation of good wherever found; 
and he was ever ready to co-operate in every good 
work, when he could do so without the compromise 
of principle. Students struggling together in the 



242 HOW THE DISCIPLES 

same classes, and soldiers battling arm in arm on 
the bloody field, form the strongest and most tender 
friendships known among men. 

d. Consecration. A people with the best plea 
in the world ought to be the best people of the 
world. As men come in touch with us they should 
take knowledge of us that we have been with 
Jesus (Acts 4: 13). Men who dwell in a rose gar- 
den bear the fragrance out into the highways on 
their garments. Our doctrine and our devotion 
should harmonize. Our logic and our lives should 
move on a common plane. Our plea and our prac- 
tice ought to be one. « The world is learning to love 
the plea; now we must make it love the people. 
And when both are loved, the walls of separation 
will crumble, and the gates of opposition will open, 
and our King will again come into his own. Truth 
incarnated in a holy life is the climax of heavenly 
power (John 8:46). 

e. Loyalty. Unwavering allegiance to our 
Lord must characterize our every thought, word 
and deed. We must not live, but Christ must live 
within us. The question of his greatest disciple, 
"Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ?" must be the 
supreme question of our lives. Let us see our 
duty in the light of a picture. Imagine a great 
battle with a million men engaged. The commander 
has carefully surveyed the field and assigned to 
each division its place in the struggle. But in the 
course of the long, hard conflict the lines were often 
changed. Finally, when a lull comes, and he would 
re-form these lines, he finds that nine-tenths of the 



BEGAN AND GREW 243 

army is more or less out of position. At the center 
— the key of the position — the remnant of the one 
hundred thousand placed there alone are in line. 
The shattered columns must be rallied, and the 
battle must be renewed, but how shall it be done? 
Must the brave band at the center be withdrawn 
and aligned with the great masses who have lost 
position? This would be the easiest thing to do, 
and, if left to a popular vote of the army, it 
would likely be done. But this would mean ruin. 
The key to the position must be held at all hazards ; 
and so the commander orders all to re-form on the 
original line at the center. 

Even so our Commander has selected the battle- 
field with Satan, and assigned to his army its posi- 
tion. But in the great struggle of two thousand 
years there have been many changes, and some of 
his bravest and best divisions are out of line to-day. 
How shall the army be re-formed? There is but 
one safe way. Those at the center must not be 
moved; but all others, under the banner of the 
King, must line up with those who still occupy the 
original line of battle. Because these are few, 
some will say that the appeal for the many to rally 
around the few, rather than for the few to rally 
around the many, is unreasonable, bigoted, narrow 
and uncharitable ; but these must stand firm. There 
must be no wavering and no compromise. They 
must be loving, but loyal. The honor of their 
Leader, the safety of themselves, and the salvation 
of the world are all at stake, and they must stand 
firm. 



244 HOW THE DISCIPLES BEGAN AND GREW 



Questions. 

1. Has our growth been remarkable? 

2. Why this remarkable growth? 

3. What are the twelve main points emphasized 
by the fathers? 

4. What can you say of the nineteenth century? 

5. Tell us of a lone picture at the beginning of 
the century. 

6. What of the outlook? 

7. What four dangers threaten our future? 

8. What five duties stare us in the face? 

9. Give the military picture illustrating our place 
and duty. 



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